The Artist's Muse
by silverwrym
Summary: Every artist needs their source of inspiration. This artist just happens to choose Reid as her's. Rated M because I am not sure how explicit this will get, and it's better to be safe than sorry.
1. Prologue: Awakening

Four weeks.

It has been four weeks since he had made one of the stupidest decisions of his life.

He lethargically blinked his eyes awake, turned his head toward the window and peered out at the picturesque pine tree forest that lay beyond the farmhouse. The trees were hypnotizing in the early morning sun. They rose upwards of forty feet and their needled branches fought to catch the light before it penetrated down to the forest floor. The panorama outside the window had helped him keep calm throughout his time here. Whenever he started to think about how hopeless this situation was he just looked out at the simplicity of nature and allowed his mind to wander free.

It was Sunday. He could hear her gospel music playing downstairs. He couldn't wrap his head around her religious beliefs. How could someone claim to be following in God's path and yet kill people in the same breath? She was acting in total contradiction to her values and chose to ignore it. He had tried to confront her with this argument on multiple occasions. Each time he got as far as mentioning the deaths of her other muses she shut him up, literally. She would get agitated with the direction of the conversation and pull out an elaborate gag that fastened around his head and forced a tongue depressor in his mouth. It was quite effective in ceasing his words, and allowed her to continue along in her life of denial.

He turned his face away from the window and observed his surroundings. He was in a small bedroom on the second floor of the farmhouse. It was painted a hideously bright shade of yellow. When the sun reflected off the walls it would make the room seem ten times brighter. There was a white pine dresser with a mirror positioned on the wall across from his four poster bed. The dresser contained a minimal amount of clothing that was meant for him to wear. She had gone out after she captured him and bought a few outfits, boxer shorts and two sets of pajamas. Next to the bed there was a nightstand with a lamp and an alarm clock. The only other thing in the bedroom was a small white pine bookshelf that held ten books upon it. All of the books were literary classics and bound in leather. The rest of the room was empty desolate space.

All of the furniture was homemade and looked exquisitely crafted. She had revealed to him at the beginning of his stay that carpentry was her family trade. Her grandfather and father were master furniture carpenters and fashioned all of the fixtures in the house out of pine that they cut down from the forest out back. She explained that she wasn't as skilled at building furniture as her father was, but found her calling to be more of an artistic one. She had the skill of wood carving and could make exceptional designs out of any piece of wood. Her forte was sculptures, which was the reason that brought him to her in the first place.

Shaking his head out of his thoughts he tried to adjust his position. She had expertly restrained him to the bed. She didn't take advantage of the four poster bed like a typical criminal would. She didn't want to bruise or cut his wrists and ankles. Instead she chose to use a form of padded medical restraints that held him down directly to the bed. The restraints looped under the mattress and had three inch wide cuffs that appeared on top. His wrists were each fastened into a cuff and were positioned about ten inches on either side of his head. This position made using his teeth to unfasten the cuffs impossible. His ankles were each fastened in their own cuffs as well, and spread about two feet apart. Initially, he had tried to squirm around in the restraints hoping to jostle them loose, but it was a futile endeavor. She made sure that the restraints were properly fastened and incapable of removal by her captive.

He hated this position. He was perpetually on his back causing his muscles to ache from their continuous immobility. She would let him up a few times of day in order to take care of his needs, but when she didn't have something in store for him, he always found himself in here strapped down to the bed. Since today was Sunday he knew that he would be allowed up eventually and was eagerly awaiting the chance to move. She wouldn't do any of her sculpting today because it was a day of rest, so he didn't have to worry about being forced to pose for an ungodly amount of time in another awkward position.

He allowed his mind to wander to his teammates. They had to still be in Maine trying to catch her and locate him. Fortunately/unfortunately, she had stopped killing after she imprisoned him. It was fortunate because more innocent people weren't going to be slaughtered, but unfortunate because her trail has probably run cold since she wasn't disposing bodies anymore. He wondered how far along the team was in finding him. Did they even know that the unsub was a woman? He knew at one point they must have been close, but she had led them off track. How couldn't they have known she was playing them? "No, don't think of that right now!" he thought to himself. "You don't want to go there. It only brings more tumultuous thoughts to the forefront."

Hearing the creak of the stairs he lifted his head up as far as he could off of the mattress. It brought about a muscle crick in his neck from the strain, but he looked toward the double locked door anyways. "Here she comes," he thought. "It must be time for my morning rituals and then back in bed." She always made sure to take care of his needs before she headed off to church. Afterward she would come back to the house, allow him to join her downstairs and make an extravagant Sunday dinner for the two of them to share. With this thought in mind, he allowed his head to drop back down upon the bed and waited.


	2. Shadows and Regrets

**Disclaimer: I do not own or profit off of Criminal Minds.**

* * *

**Four Weeks Earlier**

It was an atypical Friday in the bull pen. There was no case to investigate, and Hotch had told them once their done with all their case files they could leave, even if it was before lunch. So everyone was working on their files trying to rush through them in order to start their weekend early. Well, almost everyone. Reid didn't have to rush through his paper work since he was the fastest person in the office at doing the reports. He was trying to avoid getting a few extra files from being piled into his inbox though. He kept his head down and plowed through his work always keeping a wary eye out for invading files.

His concentration was broken by the lovely JJ telling everyone that they needed to meet in the conference room due to an urgent new case. He heaved a sigh of disdain and hauled himself out of his chair and into the conference room. Guess his plans for a quiet weekend of watching the first season of Star Trek all over again while eating all the junk food he could handle flew out the window. He trudged up to the round table room, glanced around and took the open seat next to Morgan.

"Alright everyone, you will be jet setting your way to a little town in the middle of nowhere called Kennebunk, Maine," stated Garcia as she introduced the new case. "Over the past month the local police have found four bodies, most recent being this morning, posed in peculiar positions around the town." Garcia click a button on her remote and up popped a picture of an old man sitting in a rocking chair looking off to the right, holding a ceramic beer stein in one hand and a cigar in the other. "This gentleman, Mauricio Berlusconi, was found on the bank of the Mousam River this morning after being missing for the past five days. His family reported him missing on Sunday and the police didn't find a trace of him until this morning. Cause of death was the wound to the back of his head made by some sort of thin sharp metal instrument."

Garcia clicked her remote again and the next picture showed a young twenty-something girl with blonde hair and blue eyes sitting on a wooden swing attached to a tree. Her hands were positioned to look like she was holding on to the rope, and her head was tilted to rest on its right side. Her legs were curled up underneath her, making it look like she was waiting for someone to come along and give her a push. "This is Natalie Saunders and she was found in a park near the local elementary school. Natalie was also found five days after her family reported her missing, which was coincidentally on a Sunday."

"Actually it isn't really coincidental. All of our victims went missing on a Sunday and showed up five days later in a public location. Each death was caused by the same instrument that killed Mauricio, and besides living in and around Kennebunk they have nothing in common," Garcia stated. She quickly showed the last two victims and dark haired man in his forty's that was found lying down on his side on a blanket in the community garden, and a Filipino woman sitting on a bus bench outside of the local pizza place.

"Why did they wait so long to call us in?" asked Morgan.

"Well, the local police chief said that he wanted to give the investigation his best shot before he needed to call in backup. To me it sounds like he just didn't want to admit he needed help. After today's discovery though it sounds like the town is up in arms and demanding action," explained Garcia.

"Alright, we will discuss the rest in the air. Wheels up in thirty," Hotch said.

"Wait; there is one more thing that I forgot to mention. All of the victims were found with traces of sawdust in their hair and on their clothes," Garcia rushed to inform them.

"Well, if you think about it that kinda makes sense. Maine is one of the leading states in lumber harvesting in the northeast. They are well known for their White Pine trees, and were named the Pine Tree State in 1895. Whoever is hunting these people must be in some way related to the industry," Reid was quick to explain.

"Or they are just keeping their victims in a location near a lumber yard," countered Rossi.

"Ah, yeah, I guess that could be it too," Reid admitted much to his chagrin.

"It looks like we have a lot more to discuss on the plane," Hotch closed down the conversation and walked out of the conference room.

"Why can't criminals take the weekend off?" Morgan muttered as he walked out behind Hotch.

Reid shook his head in a gesture that symbolized, "You got me."

"Because evil never sleeps," cackled Garcia. "We'll reschedule our night out for whenever ya'll get back sweet cheeks!"

"Looking forward to it, Baby Girl."

* * *

After landing at the Sanford Airport the team hopped in the waiting SUVs and made their way to Kennebunk police station. There they met with Police Chief Hansom. He showed them their working space and offered any support that he and his officers could provide.

"Alright team, as we discussed on the plane we are going to need to examine the bodies, the dump sites, set up a geographical profile, interview the families of the victims, and look into the local lumber yards and factories. We are going to have to split up to get this all done in a reasonable amount of time. Due to the pattern of victims getting abducted on Sunday we have at most a day and a half before we have another life to save. So, Morgan and Prentiss you are going to go examine the dump sites. Rossi, I want you to visit the coroner and examine the bodies. JJ, you are going to come with me to interview the families of the victims to see if we can find any connections the police may have missed. That leaves you, Reid, to set up the geographical profile. I am going to have Garcia investigate and establish a list of all the local lumber related businesses for us to start examining once we are all done with our initial tasks," Hotch said to the team.

Everyone nodded their heads and went about their assigned tasks. Reid immediately went into the office that the Chief had assigned them and worked on the map. He pinpointed each of the dump sites on the map and each of the victim's homes. None of the families were sure when or where their loved one went missing so he could not tack up any abduction sites. It only took him about an hour to analyze the data and get a good feel for the unsub's comfort zone. He called Hotch when he was finished to report in on his findings.

"Good, I am glad to see that we are making some headway. JJ and I are not having any luck with the families. We have interviewed the Berlusconi and Saunders families so far, and there are no new connections to be made. It's becoming abundantly clear that each of our victims led completely different lives and came from dissimilar backgrounds. Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi haven't reported in yet so I am assuming they are still tied up at their locations. Why don't you call Garcia and see what she came up with regarding the lumber factories and yards. If you can, start investigating a few of them to see the likelihood of sawdust being transferred to the victims either through contact or air dispersal.

"Alright Hotch, I'll get right on it," Reid replied before hanging up on his boss and dialing Garcia.

"Hello my favorite genius, what can I do for you?" Garcia answered.

"Hotch wanted me to call to see what you have for us in relation to the lumber factories and yards," Reid explained.

"Well my sweet genius I have quite a list for you. I know you mentioned that Maine is big in the lumber industry, but I didn't imagine that it would be this involved. Around Kennebunk alone there are 25 different lumber related businesses," she said.

"Okay, well we need to narrow it down somehow," Reid pondered. "Garcia, did anyone do an analysis of what type of wood was most prevalent in the sawdust?"

"Why yes, the report says that there was an overwhelming amount of white pine present in the mishmash."

"Perfect, narrow down the list to only factories and shops that deal mainly with white pine trees," Reid instructed.

"Got it! Alrighty, the list didn't narrow down that much, but like you said earlier Maine is known for its white pines. We now have a list of 16 places for you guys to check out. I am sending the list to your phone and coordinates to your GPS as we speak."

"Thanks Garcia! I'll let the team know that I am heading out to investigate some of the lumber yards. I want to see what the managers have to say about this whole sawdust angle."

"No problem genius! Garcia out."

* * *

After three long hours of traveling from lumber yard to lumber yard, Reid decided it was time to head back. The sun was casting eerie shadows on the dirt road, and it was close to dusk. He longed to be back in town before darkness completely enveloped the road. Since he had left, he had been filling in the team sporadically on his findings at each of the five yards he visited. Unfortunately, none of the managers were able to give him any good information to aid in the investigation.

He was driving back via a new route that is GPS decided was faster than the way he came. He almost missed it because he was concentrating on the case, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a large white farmhouse with a wraparound porch. It was set back off of the road quite a ways with a dirt driveway leading to the back of the property. The yard was sectioned off by a white picket fence that wrapped around the property's perimeter. The farmhouse itself was a double story residence that had a typical old-timey layout.

It wasn't the cliché house that caught his attention though. It was the two wooden sentries that guarded the driveway to the house. They were statues of two old men, exquisitely carved out of a large piece of wood respectively. The old men looked like they were fishing in the ditch that was between the road and the picket fence. This wasn't an angle that they had considered. The team didn't even contemplate the unsub being a wood carver. It would be a perfect explanation to why the bodies were posed in such awkward positions and explain the source of the sawdust.

At the last second Reid decided to pull into the driveway and see if he could talk to the owner of the farmhouse about where they got the wood sculptures. Perhaps he could bring a whole new perspective to this investigation back to his team. He quickly parked the care and headed up to the front door. He rang the doorbell and waited for an answer. As the door creaked open he saw an attractive female emerge. She had a dazzling smile that was lit up with pearly white teeth. Her hair was sun spun golden and shined as it framed her face in tight spirals. Her green eyes were big and expressive, but at the moment were shaded with curiosity.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she tentatively asked.

"Hello ma'am. I am Doctor Spencer Reid with the behavioral analysis unit of the FBI. I am here with my team investigating the recent murders in and around this area. I was driving by your house and became transfixed by those beautiful sculptures that guard the entrance. Might I ask where you got them?" He inquired, while he flashed his badge and then stuck it back into his pocket.

"Wow! The FBI is here now? I know that the chief was feeling pressure, it must have gotten bad to call you all in to help. I'm Jacqueline Riley, by the way. My friends call me Jackie."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Riley. But going back to my question, where did you buy those sculptures?" Reid asked again.

"Ohh, its actual Miss Riley. I'm not married and please call me Jackie," she paused. "Oh yeah, where did I get the sculptures you asked. Well I made them myself," Jackie responded.

"You're a wood carver? "

"In the flesh, it's a family tradition," she said.

"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions about your craft?"

"Not at all! Why don't I take you around back and show you my studio. You can look at the tools of the trade while I answer your questions."

"Sounds great! Lead the way," Reid replied. He wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to interview someone who knew the craft first hand, not to mention he would get to spend time with a beautiful woman.

As he followed Jackie around the house to her workshop, he didn't realize that his tunnel vision focus on the case led to him making one of the worst decisions of his life and he was going to regret it with every fiber of his being.


	3. Waiting Game

**Disclaimer: I do not own or make a profit off of the Criminal Minds series.**

* * *

There was a worn dirt path that Jackie followed in order to get back to her studio. Reid studied the ground as he walked behind her. He noticed the lack of grass growing due to years of being tread upon by countless pairs of feet. The path wrapped around the left side of the house and continued straight on into the backyard. There hidden behind the quaint farmhouse was a big red barn with white accents.

"I know it looks like a typical barn, but I don't use it as such. We never had any animals on the property so it was always used as our family's studio," Jackie explained as she gestured at the barn. "Of course, it is a really big barn so I also use it for storage. The riding lawnmower is housed inside along with tons of other tools for landscaping."

"This whole property is pretty amazing. It feels like I walked into a Currier and Ives painting," Reid marveled. "Was this passed down through your family along with your craft?"

"Yeppers, this property had been in our family for generations. My father left it to me and his father gave it to him, so on and so forth. Hopefully, I will be able to pass it on too, but that means I have to have a kid first…," she trailed off as she opened up the barn doors.

Once the doors were flung open that studio was exposed to the quickly dwindling sunlight. The inside was gigantic but stuffed with tools, pieces of wood, a wooden table and a large workbench. There was a partition half-way through the barn that cordoned off the studio from the storage space. Currently, there was a large stump of wood in the center of the studio and it held a piece of white pine waiting to be sculpted.

"Do you get all of your wood from the forest out back?" Reid questioned curiously.

"Yeah, even though pine isn't the most suitable type of wood to use for sculpting. It is a softer wood than other sculptors would use, but my dad taught me how to manipulate it into a thing a beauty. Also, I like being able to use materials from my own backyard. It's funny, over the years we have used so many trees that we cleared out a little section of the forest. The section is hidden back in the woods some, but there is trail that leads to it. I kinda use it as my secret place to veg when the world gets to overwhelming. I put a bench back there and I love to just sit and read for hours on end," Jackie explained with a faraway look in her eyes. It seemed like she was longing to sit in her secret spot even now.

"It sounds wonderful," Reid said as he wandered into the dimly lit studio. He started to look over the tools, large and small, as he asked her some more questions. "How long does it take you to sculpt a piece like the old men out front?"

"Pieces that size take about a week, barring any distractions to my day."

"Out of curiosity, is this your only job? I mean, is there a large enough demand for wooden sculptures that you are able to sustain a comfortable living? Of course, if that's too personal feel free not to answer," Reid inquired. Something was bothering him as he observed the rest of the studio. Besides the sculptures in front of the house there wasn't another piece of work to be seen. If her main source of income came from selling her sculptures wouldn't she have some on hand to sell to potential customers? Also, where was all the saw dust? It was too pristine in the workshop. In fact, it looked like the floor had been scrubbed clean recently, especially over by a flat worktable positioned on the right side of the barn opposite the wooden stump. Spencer felt a slight twinge of worry begin to creep down his spine.

He tried to shake off the worry, but then he picked up a strange looking tool that had the handle of a hammer. It was a hand-held ax like tool that had a curved blade at a right angle to the handle. The blade looked like a downward turned duckbill, and it was really sharp at its flattened end. Reid realized that he was holding an adze, a tool used to shape wood. Looking closer at the adze he detected what he thought was a smidgeon of blood on the tip. As he thought about it, he realized that this could be the murder weapon, because it would definitely have left a mark similar to the ones found on the victims.

"Nah, I don't have a problem answering that; my life is an open book. Unfortunately though, the demand for my art isn't that great at the moment. Luckily, when my father passed he left me plenty of money to get by on. I am one of those few lucky people that can just do what I love all day and not worry about monetary issues," she said as she positioned herself behind Reid as he was inspecting the workbench and its tools. She watched as he picked up the adze and became fixated on if for a few seconds. Jackie was ready for this moment. While Reid had been looking around she had picked up a mallet that was lying over by the worktable. She readied herself to strike at any moment.

"Miss Riley, do you injure yourself often...," Reid was in the middle of asking as he turned to face Jackie with the adze in his hands. It that moment that Jackie chose to bring up the mallet and smack it into Reid's right temple. He collapsed instantly, out to the world, and Jackie just stood over him admiring her latest muse.

* * *

"Morgan, is Reid back yet?" Hotch asked as soon as he walked in the police station with JJ after interviewing the last of the families. "The last family we interviewed, the Malyalangs, mentioned that their daughter had recently moved into her apartment and out of their house. I want to see if that could affect the geographic profile at all."

"No Hotch, he hasn't gotten back yet. I was just about to ask you if you've heard from him lately."

"He should be here by now. The last call I got from him was around six o'clock when he was leaving the Hill Brothers' Lumber Yard, that was two hours ago. He said he was headed back; it should have taken him half an hour at the most. Have you tried calling him?"

"Yeah, three times, and it went straight to voicemail. I thought maybe he had crappy service on his route back," Morgan stated.

"Try again. I'll call Garcia and see if she can get a location on his phone," Hotch said with a little bit of worry entering his voice.

Morgan dialed Reid's number again and waited for an answer. When he heard the voicemail turn on he hung up the phone. He looked to Hotch and noticed the chagrined look on his face as he talked to Garcia.

"All right. Thanks Garcia. Let me know when you find something," Hotch said. Sighing he hung up the phone and turned to Morgan. "Gather the team; it looks like we have a problem."

"Hotch, are you sure you aren't jumping to conclusions. What if there is a major traffic jam or perhaps he went to pick us up some dinner? You know how the kid hates it when we overreact" Rossi, who had been standing behind Hotch the whole time, asked.

"Rossi, I agree that I may be overreacting, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Let's get everyone together and go over some possible scenarios. If we're lucky he will walk in while we are meeting, and we can get on him for making us worry. If not, we want to be ahead of the game and hit the ground running," Hotch rationalized to Morgan and Rossi. In the end, he knew that this long day of work had just transitioned into an even longer night of worrying.

"Hotch, if it does turn out that he's in trouble again, can we invest in a tracking devise for the kid when we _all_ get back to Quantico?" Morgan asked, only half joking.

* * *

He felt like sneezing. This always happens in the morning because his hair constantly falls into his face throughout the night. He twitched his nose as he blew a breath of air upwards trying to dislodge the stray piece of hair that was tickling his nostrils. It didn't work. This time he decided to just upset his pleasant sleep by moving his hand in order to restrain the rouge hair behind his ear.

Wait a second. He couldn't move his hand. As he thought about it, he realized he couldn't move either hand. In less than a second his eyes shot open as he tried to sit up in his bed.

Hold on! This wasn't his bed and he couldn't sit up. What was going on? Reid searched his brain for an explanation as he took in his surroundings. He was in a small bedroom that was painted an excruciating bright yellow. He was on a four poster bed and there was a dresser with an attached mirror at the foot of it. He turned his head to the left and saw a nightstand with an alarm clock that read 7:30 A.M. and a lamp. Reid then turned his head the other way and saw a window with a view of a pine forest. Next to the window was a bookshelf that held a minimal amount of books.

After seeing all he could of the sparse room, Reid began to take a survey of his body. By turning his head to both sides he saw that his hands were restrained in padded cuffs that were securely fastened to a strap that wound under the mattress. If he tried to yank his hands up they would only succeed in moving about half an inch in the air with the strap straining to pull them back down. He tilted his head up to try to get a look at his feet. He had realized that they too were held down in padded cuffs with about the same range of mobility as his hands. He thrust his hips up in the air arching his back a few times to see if he could jostle loose the straps holding him, but only succeeded in causing his back to spasm under the strain. As he jerked his head to the right again, in frustration, he felt the side of his head explode in pain. She must have hit the right side of his head with some sort of blunt object, he reasoned. Reid gently moved his head back to its original position to take the pressure off of the tender right side of his face. He was starting to panic, the helpless feeling of being unable to move his own body was really getting to him. He took a few steadying deep breaths and ordered his mind to calm down.

Why didn't I call Hotch and tell him I was pulling over to investigate a hunch? I am such an idiot! Thank God the car has a GPS locater in it; maybe they will be able to find me quickly if they triangulate the car's location. I just have to wait until they get here, however long that might be. Thinking about it a bit more, he realized that they must have been working all night on finding him. It was Saturday morning, why didn't the GPS lead them here last night? Ugh, he hated not knowing!

Deciding that he wanted to see if he could get some answers Reid tried to call out, "Hello?" but it ended up sounding like a whisper. It was just then that he realized how thirsty he really was and how he longed for a cool sip of water.

He cleared his throat as best he could and tried to call out again, "Hello? Jackie, are you there?" His voice came out stronger this time. Perhaps he could get her to talk to him about why she was doing this. The team always said he was good at talking his way out of situations, why should this be any different. "Hello?"

He strained his ears to listen for any reaction to his shouting, and he was in luck. He heard the shifting of floorboards as someone started walking toward the room from what he assumed was down the hall. Reid heard her stop outside of his door and was wondering why she was taking so long to let herself into the room. He heard a few clicking sounds, and her delay made sense; she had to unlock the door. Why bother locking it when he was secured down so severely?

"Good morning Spencer!" she said cheerfully as she softly strolled into the room in her flannel pajama pants and pink t-shirt. Obviously she had just gotten out of bed, perhaps roused by his yelling, for she was rubbing her eyes and her hair was all disheveled. "You must be hungry, would you like me to make you some breakfast?" she asked him reverently like he was an honored guest at the house and not being held against his will.

"Umm, Jackie…what's going on? What happened last night? Why am I restrained to this bed?" He couldn't ask the questions fast enough.

"Now Spencer, it's rude to answer a question with a question. Do you want some food?" she asked with more force in her voice.

Deciding to give in to her request before he made her angry, he responded, "I am a bit thirsty."

"Alright, let me go down and fix something up. Then we'll eat and have a friendly chat over breakfast," she said turning around to go back out the door.

"Wait! Could you at least let me out of these?" He asked as he nodded to the restraints as best he could.

She laughed a bit hysterically at that and commented, "No silly, you might try to leave. I can't have my newest muse escaping before I even get to use you for inspiration. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Now, I'll be back in a bit. Just try to relax." She shut the door and he could hear the locks fastening back into place. She sure was going the extra mile to ensure he couldn't escape.

Reid sighed, stared up at the ceiling, and struggled a little bit more against his bonds. "Guys, hurry up please. I'm waiting…" he whispered forlornly.


	4. For You and Your Denial

**This is an edited version of chapter 3. Thank you to my guest reviewer who pointed out a tiny problem with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not make a profit off of this awesome show!**

* * *

"Here you go," Jackie said cheerfully as she walked in with a tray of food for him to eat. She set the tray up on his thighs, and folded down the two sets of legs to stabilize it on the bed. Reid wrinkled his forehead trying to discern how she expected him to eat with him positioned on his back with both hands strapped down by his head.

"Let me just reposition the bed for you and then you can dig in," Jackie explained as the head of the bed started to rise up. Jackie had grabbed a remote from the nightstand drawer that seemed to control the electronic bed. She raised the bed up so Reid was sitting up at about a sixty degree angle. She then walked over to his left hand and released it from the strap, but the cuff remained intact around his wrist.

"I am only going to release one of your hands for you to eat with, but luckily for you I cut up your waffles into bite sized pieces," she said as she lifted the cloche from off of the plate of food revealing waffles and two sausage links. The waffles were obviously the store bought frozen brand. She had buttered them up and drenched them in syrup. Also present on the tray was a fork, a glass of milk and a glass of water. "I wasn't sure what you wanted to drink with your food. I personally love milk, especially when I am eating something covered in syrup."

Reid wasn't especially hungry, but he didn't want to piss off his "hostess" before they had a chance to talk. He struggled at stabbing at a piece of waffle while using his non-dominant hand but he successfully speared a piece and brought it to his mouth. While it may have been covered in syrup it didn't taste much better than cardboard to him. He chewed slowly and swallowed. He really didn't look forward to having to eat the rest of this meal. All the while, Jackie sat in a chair that she had brought in from another room and watched him. She smiled as he ate, thinking that he was enjoying his sickeningly sweet breakfast. This went on for another five minutes before Reid took a final sip of the water and said, "I don't think I could eat another bite."

Jackie frowned at the half eaten plate of food, but the shrugged her shoulders and put the cloche back on the dish. She removed the tray and walked out of the room.

"Wait! I thought we were going to talk," Reid cried out after her retreating figure.

He received no answer, but could hear sounds from the emanating from the kitchen. Thinking that he might as well take advantage of the situation he decided to see if he could release his other hand from the strap.

Working with his left hand was more difficult than he thought it would be. You never realize how reliant you are on your dominant hand until you can't use it anymore. He hadn't had a good look at how the cuffs affixed to the strap until now, and realized that it didn't matter if he had a hand free; the cuff was fastened to the strap via a locking mechanism. Reid sighed in defeat, knowing that he was utterly at this woman's whim.

"I see that you figured out you can't escape without this," Jackie said manically as she held up a little key. She had been standing there for a few minutes watching him inspect the cuffs. She enjoyed watching him struggle, and she really loved the look of defeat that came over him when he realized his vulnerability.

"So, I know that you want to talk, but I have to get you used to the routine around here first. Every morning when I come in I will bring you breakfast. After breakfast you will have the opportunity to use the bathroom and shower. I suggest you get your body used to this cycle because you will be on a strict schedule from now on and you won't be able to go whenever you want. Now, there isn't anything in the bathroom for you to use as a weapon, so feel free to look through all the drawers and cabinets. There is a brand new toothbrush for you to use, and soap in the shower. I don't have many clothes that fit someone of your height, but I will go out and fix that later today. For now, you can wear this pair of sweatpants and this T-shirt. You will have exactly a half hour in the bathroom. I will lock you in there and either knock when you are done, or I will open the door when your time is up. Now until I can trust you I will be keeping your feet shackled together with only enough room in the chain to allow you to walk. Your hands will be fastened to the chain around your waist, but since you need to shower we will forgo that for now."

Reid didn't even realize that he already had a chain wrapped around his waist and fastened closed via a combination lock. "How didn't I feel that?" he asked himself. The chain was tight enough to ensure he couldn't bring it up over his head, or slip it down over his hips. While mulling this over Jackie started to undo his left cuff from the mattress. She then went around the bed and worked on his right hand. Finally, when both hands were free, she set to work on his feet. Reid toyed around with the idea of kicking out at her while she worked on his feet, but she was one step ahead of him. She released them from the bed, and then pointed a gun she pulled from her waistband at him. Reid was taken aback at the sight of the gun and was glad that he hadn't had to opportunity to follow through on the kicking.

"What? You really didn't think I would chance you trying to get free so early in your stay here, did you?" Jackie questioned with a mocking tone. "Now get up and walk over to that door," she nodded to the door he hadn't notice on the other side of the nightstand. The door opened into a small bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink. There was no mirror present, probably to prevent people like him from breaking it to use as a weapon. "You have a half an hour starting now," Jackie stated as she shut the door and locked it.

The half hour went by fast. He took his time taking a nice hot shower, trying to erase the scent of terror he thought was emanating from his body. Spencer washed his hair and body, but then just stood in the water letting his mind drift away. He got out of the shower and set to drying his hair. He was in the middle of brushing his teeth when the door abruptly opened. He jerked up and glanced at the door. The gun was positioned right at his face and he heard her voice say, "Time's up." He quickly disposed of the toothpaste foam that was currently residing in his mouth. Before he left the bathroom he washed out his mouth with some water he managed to catch in his hand. "Back to bed," she ordered. He shuffled over and sat down. Surprisingly she didn't move to restrain him. Jackie chose to sit back down in the chair but kept the gun in her right hand pointed at him the whole time.

"Well, let's talk," she said. "What's your first question?"

"Um…why me?" Spencer was caught off guard for a moment and that was the best he could come up with. All the questions he had in mind from earlier seemed to have momentarily flitted away.

"Why you? Good question. It really wasn't planned or anything. You just showed up at the door, kinda like you were delivering yourself as a present to me. The moment I saw you I knew that you were an exquisite male specimen and I needed to sculpt you. Your jaw line is amazing, your eyes are so expressive, and your body structure is so awkward it's cute. I was planning on picking up my next muse tomorrow, I like to bring my guests home on Sunday, but decided to take a chance and throw off my schedule. In the end, it's entirely your fault. If you wouldn't have shown up on my doorstep I would still be staking out my next guest and you would still be with your team investigating me," she said nonchalantly.

"Sculpt me?" Spencer asked.

"Well yes, that is my job you know. I look for outstanding specimens of society and use them as my inspiration for new pieces. I already know the pose I am going arrange you in. It fits your personality perfectly! I think we are going to get started today. Like I said this whole situation is throwing off my schedule, but now that I have you I can't wait till Monday to get started."

"What happens to me after you finish your piece?" Spencer asked, even though he already knew the answer based on the other victims they found. Victim, is that what he is considered now? He shook his head at the thought. The word makes him sound and feel so weak. He refused to be a victim, perhaps a target, but not a victim.

"That depends on you really. The last few muses were not nearly as inspirational at I expected them to be. I had to dispose of them after the first piece. They didn't leave me with lasting inspiration and I couldn't fathom doing another piece about them. If you manage to keep me inspired I will keep you around for a while. Oh, and there is another reason you might get to stay with me, but we will cross that bridge when we get there," she said cryptically.

Spencer didn't like the sound of that last statement but couldn't do much about it since she refused to give out more information. "So what do I have to do?" He needed to know how to keep himself in her good graces until the team could get there. The team, where the hell are they? They should have been here by now! Something must have thrown them off his trail.

"All you need to do is follow my rules and directions. I don't want you kicking up any fusses or disrupting my work," Jackie explained disrupting his train of thought.

Licking his lips, Spencer was contemplating whether or not he wanted to ask his next question. "You must know that the FBI will come looking for me. Why don't you just let me go? Stop this before it starts and they will go easier on you."

Jackie scoffed a bit at his reasoning. "Spencer, I took care of throwing them off your scent last night. They can look for you all they want; they aren't going to come here to find you. And even on some off chance that they do come and talk to me, like you did, I won't have a problem misleading them in their investigation. So I suggest that you don't get your hopes, it will only disappoint you more in the end."

"They will find me," Spencer said with some vehemence. "I won't give up that hope, and you are in denial if you think that I will." He was surprised at the strength he put behind his retort. She had managed to piss him off with discrediting his team so quickly.

"Well, here's to_ you_ and _your_ denial," she said as she gestured the gun in a sort of salute. "They aren't going to find you, and the longer you cling to that hope the harder this experience will be. Now then, I am going into town for a little while to get you some clothes and buy some supplies for this afternoon. You be a good boy while I'm gone and get some rest, you're going to need it," she said as she proceeded to fasten him back onto the bed, always making sure that the gun was out of his reach. She lowered the bed back down to a flat position and walked out the door, locking it behind her.

"I'm not in denial. They will find me," he repeated to himself until he fell off into a restless sleep.

* * *

The team had been searching all night. They had split up into pairs and took a local officer with them as they traversed the back roads that led to the various lumber yards that they knew Reid had visited. They didn't expect to find him anywhere near the first four yards, but they couldn't leave any stone unturned. Hotch and Rossi were the ones that inspected the route to the fifth lumber yard. The local officer assisting them drove all over the place last night. The men were on the lookout for the missing unmarked car or someone wandering along the side of the road. Needless to say, they had no luck. They watched the sun rise as they searched and Hotch had to finally make the decision to gather everyone back at headquarters.

"Go to the hotel and get some sleep. We've done all we can for now and it won't do us any good to be running on empty," Hotch ordered the team after the long night of searching for their missing teammate.

"No way Hotch, how could I possibly go to sleep knowing that he is out there somewhere in trouble and needs our help?" Morgan questioned.

"Morgan, you don't know that. We can't jump to conclusions about this situation."

"Well what else would keep him from coming back?"

"He might have had car trouble…" Hotch wagered a guess.

"Right, and he didn't phone for assistance."

"Maybe his phone is out of batteries," Hotch countered.

"Your just grasping at straws, Hotch. You know this is more than just car trouble. Hell, we can't even find the car. I don't want to waste time sleeping when I could be out there looking for him."

"Hotch is right Morgan, we need to rest for a bit. We aren't doing Reid any good if we can't think straight," Prentiss tried to calmly placate Morgan.

"Yeah, I don't want to stop now either, but we have all been going for 24 hours nonstop. We need to rest, recharge and get some food in us before we can be useful again," Rossi said in support of Hotch.

"Fine! Whatever! I will be back here at noon with or without you guys. That's four hours, that's all the time I am going to waste," Morgan said.

Hotch shook his head; four hours was better than nothing. It wasn't enough to sustain them for the long haul, but some sleep was better than none. "Alright, see you back here at noon."

* * *

Reid woke up to the sounds of Jackie walking up the stairs. He turned his head to glance at the clock and saw that it was noon. He was surprised that he had fallen asleep. Though, he was bit thankful that he didn't just lie their contemplating his situation for hours on end.

Jackie walked into the room with a bag that was emblazoned with a logo from a local clothing store. "Wakey wakey sleepy head. I got you some clothes for our session and some for everyday wear. Now this outfit is the one I want you to wear while I sculpt you," she said as she held up a pair of dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red and blue plaid button-up. She went to work tearing off the tags from the clothes and then she placed them in the bathroom on the counter. How was he supposed to change his clothes when he was all trussed up? You can't exactly put pants on while your hands are attached to a bed.

"You might be wondering how you're going to change. Don't worry I have the perfect solution!" she said with an eerie cheerfulness. She reached back into the bag and pulled out a shock collar. There was no way in hell she bought that at the clothing store!

"No, please you don't have to use that. I won't give you any problems. I swear," Reid said with a bit of panic edging into his voice. He didn't want to come off as desperate, but he really didn't enjoy the thought of that thing around his neck.

"Awww, that's sweet of you to say, but we haven't established that kind of trust yet," she responded as she wrapped the collar around his neck. "Now, don't think about trying to remove this or else you will experience one heck of a shock."

"This really isn't necessary," he tried to appeal to her again.

"Of course it is. I need to make sure you don't try anything. I wasn't born yesterday. All of my muses go through the same initiation period. You are no exception," she said with a bit of frustration in her voice. "Now I am going to let you up. You will go into the bathroom and change. Make sure to use the facilities because it is going to be awhile before you get to use them again. When you are done knock on the door and I will unlock it to let you out."

Reid just nodded his understanding and waited patiently while she undid all of his restraints. The cuffs of course were still surrounding his wrists and ankles, but it felt so good not to be stuck in that restrictive position anymore. He slowly got up off the bed, made his way to the bathroom, and shut the door behind him. He wasted no time using the bathroom. He washed his hands and then splashed some water on his face. "God, why is it always me?" he whispered to himself. He really didn't want to do this, but he needed to play into her fantasy for as long as possible.

He must have been taking too long because all of a sudden his body was wracked with a spasm of pain. He grabbed onto the sink to stay standing and let out a gasp. "I told you not to take too long," Jackie called out to him. "That was the lowest setting. I won't be so nice next time. You have two minutes before you feel the next level."

Reid quickly changed his clothes and inspected his body. He looked like some sort of S&M plaything in the cuffs and collar. Where do people get all of this specialized bondage equipment? Who makes locking cuffs with corresponding bed straps? What a strange world we live in when there is a need for a company to make all this sick and twisted stuff. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he turned and knocked on the door to signal he was ready.

Abruptly, his body was overtaken by an intense amount of pain. His legs gave out beneath him and his body shook uncontrollably. Jackie pushed into the bathroom, which resulted in his legs being trapped between the door and the wall. While he was still in shock from the sudden onslaught she fastened a leash to his collar, hooked together the cuffs at his wrists and attached them to the waist chain. "Come along now! We only have about six hours of light to work with," she stated as she tugged on the leash forcing him to get up or choke. A tear of humiliation made its way down his cheek as he forced his body to do Jackie's bidding.


	5. Keeper

**Hi All! I had to edit chapter 3 so it has been resubmitted. There were no major changes, I just had to fix a hole in the plot.**

**Thanks to all of my reviewers!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own or make a profit off of Criminal Minds**

* * *

"Snap out of it," he silently berated himself. He realized that he needed to focus on observing his surroundings as Jackie led him out of the house to her studio. He noticed the layout of the house as she dragged him down the stairs. His room was in the back of the house at the end of a long hallway. On the way to the stairs they passed three closed doors and one guest bathroom. The stairs were carpeted, which would help to muffle the sound of footsteps if he got the chance to sneak away. The staircase ended right next to the front door and led into the living room. He could see an arched entrance to a dining room and kitchen area off the back of the living room. The whole place had a country feel to it and was stuffed full with little old-fashioned knick-knacks.

Jackie led him through the living room and into the massive kitchen in order to access the backdoor. It opened onto the wrap-around porch and had a series of five steps leading down into the back yard. Reid stumbled a little on his way down the stairs which led to Jackie brusquely tugging on the leash as she led him to the barn.

"Jackie, do you really think this is the best way to go about creating a work of art? You're basing your masterpiece on an unwilling participant," Reid tried to appeal to her.

"That doesn't matter. An artist must act upon their inspiration however it comes to them. The way you feel about the whole situation doesn't make any difference in how my piece will come out. I am going to pose you anyway I want and allow the magic to course through my fingers," Jackie responded.

"Yes, but what makes you think I will cooperate?" Reid was getting fed up of her trying to assert her dominance over him and ground his feet into the dirt refusing to move until she acknowledge him.

"You will do what I say or you will suffer the consequences," she said matter-of-factly as she reached her hand into her pocket. Reid was overtaken by an electrical shock running through him and his knees buckled underneath him. He writhed on the ground while Jackie stood over him with a grin on her face. "Come along," she demanded as she jerked on the leash with astounding strength that must have come from working on a farm all of her life, "We've wasted enough time with this silly show of defiance."

Reid choked a bit as the collar seemed to tighten around his throat after she yanked on it again. He forced his shaky legs to support his body as he got back up on his two feet. They entered the workshop and Jackie led him over to the wall opposite the workbench. She stretched up on her tippy toes and fastened the leash to a hook that was out of Reid's limited reach. "Stay there. I have to prepare everything before I'm ready to pose you," Jackie ordered.

Reid watched as Jackie went to the back of the barn and dragged a large piece of white pine into the vicinity. She positioned the piece of wood in the middle of the floor equidistant from Reid and the workbench. She then set about gathering the tools she needed to manipulate the wood. There were tools large and small for all types of details. He watched as she calmly hummed a tune to help her through the preparations. Throughout her preparations he stood rigidly still in order to not provoke her for any reason. If she was to get pissed at him now the electrical shock would cause him to fall down and he could possibly choke to death on the leash.

After about ten minutes Jackie seemed ready to get started. "So, I was thinking about what would be the best pose for you. I don't know much about you, but going off of your appearance when we met you seem like an intellect. I mean, who wears those types of clothes? A sweater vest? Really? So that got me thinking of college professors, elbow patches, and books. In the end I decided that the best position to start you out with is a modern take on Auguste Rodin's 'The Thinker,' a tribute in history to man utilizing his mind."

"Well that doesn't sound too bad," Spencer thought to himself. He had been a little worried that this whole sculpting thing would require nudity. He was not ready to willingly or unwillingly expose himself to this crazy woman. "I can pose like that for a while and maybe the team will find me before darkness falls," Spencer pondered thoughtfully.

Lost in thought, Reid didn't notice as Jackie pulled out a smaller stump of wood and placed it near him. She put a substance on the exposed top of the stump that was clear and odorless. She quickly walked over to Reid and pulled out the tiny remote for the collar. She switched up the setting on the remote and pushed the button down.

Caught totally off guard, again, Reid felt his world drop out from beneath him. He felt a pull at his neck and realized that he was right on his earlier assessment about the leash being too short to allow him to fall to the ground without choking. Now instead of just worrying about the electricity shooting through his veins, he had to worry about supplying oxygen to his body. As he dangled there he tried to adjust his body so that his knees could support him up high enough to keep him from strangling. All the while, Jackie scurried up to the wall and freed the leash from the hook. Reid crumpled to the ground, where he proceeded to cough uncontrollably.

Jackie grabbed him under the arms and dragged him over to the stump. "Spencer, I am going to begin to position you for our session. I need your upmost cooperation throughout this or you're going to realize that a shock collar is the least of your worries."

Reid finally managed to get his breath back but his body was still shaky from the shock. He felt Jackie lift him up onto the stump and sit him on the top of it. "Now, don't you try getting up from there. You'll only succeed in ripping off your pants."

Spencer wasn't sure if he heard Jackie correctly, "What?"

"Well, one of the hard parts of sculpting an inspiration that's alive is keeping them in the same pose throughout the process. You wouldn't believe how many times a human feels the need to move throughout a typical six hour session. You would think a model could have better self-control, but no, they are constantly readjusting their position to make themselves comfortable. Do you know how much the slightest movement throws off a whole piece? It's almost catastrophic! Then I have to stop, repose them, center myself again, and hope that I remember where I left off. So, instead of putting up with all that bullshit I have come up with a way to keep my models stationary. Superglue! It's perfect! I can make sure my models stay exactly the way I want and not lose my concentration," Jackie enthusiastically describe to Reid as she freed his wrists from the waist chain.

Superglue? Shit. "Um, Jackie…what are these sweat pants made out of?" Spencer asked due to the fact that he was feeling a bit of warmth radiating from the seat of his pants.

"I think they are mostly rayon, but there could be some cotton in them too. Why do you ask?"

"Did you know that when cyanoacrylate is applied to cotton it causes an exothermic reaction? Um, I mean when the superglue comes into contact with cotton materials it heats up sometimes to the point of ignition. Even if it doesn't catch on fire, it could cause serious burns to anyone coming into contact with the materials," Spencer was quick to explain. The heat radiating from his pants was bearable, but Reid could tell there would be some obvious skin irritations on his bottom later on. Thank God the sweat pants were mostly rayon!

"So that's why my last few muses all got burns on their backsides! Oh well, you'll survive! It's not your ass I am worried about today anyways," she said cheerfully as she applied some more superglue onto the right knee of his pants. "Place your elbow right there before the glue dries up," Jackie ordered.

Spencer hesitated; he really didn't want to get stuck, literally. "You really don't have to go through all this trouble Jackie. I'll keep still," he pleaded. "I am really good at maintaining positions for long periods of time. It comes in handy on stakeouts."

Jackie made a tsk-tsk sound with her lips. She pulled out the remote again and allowed her finger to hover over the button. "Make a choice. Either put your elbow where I told you or suffer another shock and I will place it for you."

Reid froze. Had he pushed her too far with his pleas? He really didn't want to feel another shock running through his body, so he relinquished control and put his elbow where she directed. Again he could feel some heat emanating from the material after its contact with the glue.

"Did you know that the statue 'The Thinker' was originally named 'The Poet?' It was part of a commission to create a portal to an entrance to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. There were multiple statues involved and each one represented a character from Dante's 'The Divine Comedy.' In fact, 'The Thinker' was thought to depict Dante at the Gates of Hell, pondering his entrance," Reid spat out trying to distract Jackie from his display of stubbornness.

"How fitting? 'The Thinker' was meant to show Dante at the Gates of Hell, and here I am recreating a modern version in my own personal hell," Reid contemplated after his rush of words.

"Spencer, this isn't going to work for me," Jackie quickly intervened before he could continue his lesson. All the while she had gone over to her supplies and brought forth a leather bound book. "Give me your hand, and don't hesitate this time."

"What isn't going to work?" Reid questioned her as she applied glue to each of this fingertips and his thumb. She then took the book, opened it, and placed it in his left hand where they instantly bonded together. Jackie then smeared the back of his arm from elbow to wrist and placed it against his left thigh with the open book facing toward him. He knew his left wrist would be in agony by the end of the day from having to hold the book upright the whole session.

"I need a calm atmosphere in my workshop when I am sculpting and all of your chattering isn't going to help." She grabbed his chin with her free hand. Instinctively he tried to bring his arms up to dislodge her hand from his chin, but he only succeeded in pulling the fabric of his pants up half an inch from his leg. She reached for a fresh tube of glue with her free hand and struggled to open it while maintaining her hold on his chin. "I had to do this with the others too, but I think that you especially warrant it." She finally got the annoying lid off of the canister and brought it up to his lips. "Don't worry, I won't leave you like this all day," she said as she applied the glue to his lips in a macabre mimic of a girl applying lip gloss. She then dropped the glue and squeezed his lips together to ensure the bonding process.

Reid knew better than to try to force his lips apart. He was sure there would be agony in the ripping of the fragile tissue if he tried. He also knew that one of the best ways to remove superglue from ones lips was to apply generous amounts of saliva and pressure from inside of the mouth. He could work at it while she was busy sculpting if need be.

Having been successfully silenced all Reid could do now was wait for the finishing touches on his pose. She took his right hand and glued it into a fist. She applied more glue on the top of the fist of fingers and hunched him over so his chin was fused to his fist. She ensured that his line of sight was concentrated on the open book in his left hand. If someone was to observe this from far away it really would resemble a modern take on "The Thinker."

In his forced silence, all Reid could think about was how he just needed to play along until he was rescued. He hated this damsel in distress feeling that was overwhelming him, but for the moment Jackie definitely had the upper hand. Anything that he might try would without a doubt be thwarted by her hand pressing the button on that god-awful remote, and who knows what she would do to him once he was subdued. So for now, he would wait for an absolution that would hopefully come.

"Finally, I am ready to begin," Jackie announced to no one in particular as she picked up her chainsaw.

* * *

"I hope everyone was able to get a few hours of sleep," Hotch said as he addressed the team exactly at noon. "We need to reexamine this whole situation and figure out how best to go about looking for both the unsub and Reid."

"Right. We can't just ignore the case because Reid is missing," Rossi stated. He didn't want to be the one to say it, but without any proof that Reid's disappearance was malicious they couldn't lose sight of the real reason they came to Maine in the first place.

"How can you dismiss Reid so easily Rossi?" JJ questioned him incredulously. "He could be out in a ditch somewhere in desperate need of help or dying, and you just want to focus on the case?"

"No, that's not what I meant at all, and you know it," Rossi replied. "What I am saying is that we need to divide and conquer for now. Half of us should keep on the case and the other half should focus on finding Reid."

"I agree with Rossi," Hotch supported. "Right now we would be doing the community a disservice to give up on the case and focus on ourselves. Rossi, Prentiss and I will keep on investigating the unsub, while you two will continue searching for Reid."

Morgan nodded his head, not liking the fact that all their force was not concentrated on finding his little brother. Before he got to say a word though a young officer knocked on the door jamb alerting the team he was there with a purpose.

"Excuse me, but the Captain wanted me to come and let you know that we found the unmarked car," the rookie said nervously.

All of a sudden everyone on the team let out a question.

"What?"

"Where?"

"Was Reid in the car? Is he alive?"

"Why are you just standing there? Say something?"

The young man looked overwhelmed by all of the agents' questions. "We found it in the Mousam River. There was no one inside."

"Okay. Let's stay the course people," Hotch said sternly. "Morgan and JJ get down to the Mousam River site and check it out. Call me as soon as you have any information. We will get started on questioning the rest of the lumber yards that Reid isolated for our search. Stay focused everyone! Tomorrow is Sunday and we don't want another victim getting kidnapped on our watch." Hotch turned to Morgan and JJ as they made their way out of the door, "Bring Reid home you two." They nodded silently as they quickly walked out the door.

* * *

**5 ½ hours Later**

"Ahhh…" Jackie said as she stretched her hands behind her back. She had been working nonstop since she finalized Reid's pose. She had successfully cut off the larger pieces of wood that would allow her to bring forth the human shape. From there she focused on the base of the sculpture guaranteeing an audience would be able to tell the difference between it and the body sitting upon it. Finally, she was able to begin to bring out the initial shape of the head and torso.

"I gotta tell you," she was saying to Reid, "I have never gotten this far in one sitting before. You really are the inspiration I've been waiting for! I think I will definitely be keeping you around for a while."

Reid was sitting there in misery while he listened to her go on about how wonderful the piece was turning out. He was trying his best to keep the tears from dropping from his eyes, but if he didn't get released from this position soon it wasn't going to be a choice. Like he predicted his left wrist was in so much pain he couldn't keep it up anymore. His back was aching from the hunched over position it had been in for the past five hours. On top of it all, Reid realized a half an hour ago that if she didn't stop this soon he was going to wet his pants. He silently cursed himself for getting a drink of water from the bathroom sink while he was getting dressed for this.

"Alright, you were an excellent model today. I am going to run and get the acetone so we can get back inside and have dinner," Jackie said as she hopped off into the back of the barn.

She came back with a jug of acetone and a rag. "So I am going to start rubbing the acetone on the places where you are stuck together. Gently start to peel your skin apart once it's applied," she instructed. "Oh, don't try anything once you get free, I won't hesitate to shock you."

Jackie started with his lips. She got a Q-tip out and doused it in acetone. She rubbed it back and forth against his lips a few times and let him take care of the rest. It was amazing to finally be able to open his mouth and take in a breath of air. Luckily small amounts of acetone are not harmful if ingested, so he didn't worry about the remnants that remained on his lips as he licked moisture back into them. At this point, Reid didn't even consider talking because he didn't want to distract her from helping him get free from the rest of the glue.

Jackie was true to her word and continued to apply the acetone to all the appropriate places. Reid focused on releasing his limbs from their confining position, and couldn't help to think how she was going to get him off of the stump.

"Now, you are going to have to wiggle out of your pants if you want to go inside. I am not about to waste all this acetone on soaking those pants."

Reid was mortified. He didn't want her seeing him in his two-day-old boxers. He gave her a panicked look and sat their contemplating the situation. Sighing in resignation he decided that there wasn't really any other choice. Using his newly emancipated hands he braced himself on the barn floor and began to wiggle out of the pant legs. When he was completely out he stretched his legs out on the floor.

Taking advantage of Reid being distracted Jackie retrieved the leash and quickly fastened it back onto Reid's collar.

"I'm not going to waste time on cuffing you right now. Let's get back into the house." She pulled on his leash and led him back in. Thinking that this may be one of his only chances at freedom Reid grabbed the leash with both his hands jerked it hard enough to dislodge it from her. Jackie stumbled backwards from his yank. He quickly closed the gap between the two of them intent upon finding the remote to his collar. He was leaning over her and had his hand in her pocket when he was blinded by pain stemming from his groin. Groaning in pain and twisting on the ground he forgot his original purpose and moved his hands down to protect his precious body parts.

Jackie smirked as she got up off the ground. "I told you not to try anything!" she said a little hysterically. "You lucky you're a keeper or else I would just dispose of you now for all the trouble you have been giving me." Using his pain to her advantage she corrected her first mistake and re-secured his hands to the waist chain. "Ewww, you smell," Jackie observed after she was done.

Due to the kick in the groin Reid's shaky hold on his bladder had given away. Humiliation beyond words overwhelmed him as he realized he had wet himself and was now sitting in a puddle of his own urine.

"I was going to let you use the bathroom once we got in, but since you already took care of that I think I will let you wallow in your own filth for a while. Think of it as punishment for trying to escape. I hope you enjoy the musky scent," Jackie said manically.

Jackie proceeded to pull him into the house and up to the bedroom. She wasted no time in getting him fastened into place. "God, I know this room is going to smell tomorrow, but you need to learn a lesson. I am going to go out and get you some new clothes and pick us up some dinner. If you're lucky I might let you shower before bed tonight."

Reid had turned his face away from Jackie as she walked out the door. Almost a whole day has come to pass since he had been kidnapped. Where were his friends? He hoped they would never find out about this recent degradation, but he would shout it from the rooftops if it meant attracting their attention to his location. Laying there in the bed losing the hold on some of the hope he had stored away, his mind replayed the events of the day. Could this get any worse?


	6. Lights and Sounds

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Sorry for the length of time between updates, grad school is kicking my butt.**

**Disclaimer: I do not make a profit off of Criminal Minds or its characters**

* * *

Sunday.

It was the beginning of Reid's second day in his own personal hell. His eyes were bothering him after having to sleep in his contacts for the past two nights without being able to moisturize them; they were dailies and not meant for continual use. He knew that he was going to have to take them out soon before they started getting unbearably irritated. Maybe he could get Jackie to bring his bag up to him so he could retrieve his glasses. Blinking the sleep out of his red eyes he tried to adjust his position on the bed. After two nights of sleeping on his back with his arms stretched up awkwardly he was beginning to feel the strain.

Reid sniffed the air and detected the musky scent of his urine. Jackie never did let him clean up after his embarrassing loss of control yesterday. She was really pissed about his escape attempt and didn't even bring him any dinner. Luckily (?) he was dehydrated from not getting any water yesterday so he didn't feel the need to use the restroom the remainder of the night. He was dying of thirst now that he had woken up to this new sunny day.

What was that sound? He slowly became aware of the music that was playing throughout the house. He listened closely and was able to discern what sounded like gospel music. Really? Only he would be lucky enough to be caught by a religious psychopath for a second time?

He turned his head as the door creaked open to reveal Jackie with a tray of food. It was the same breakfast as yesterday, but after forgoing dinner last night his mouth was drooling at the sight of it. He couldn't help but move his hips in anticipation of being raised up from this horizontal position.

"Happy Sunday, Spencer," Jackie said in a sickly sweet voice.

Clearing his voice as best he could he croaked out, "Morning."

"Whew, it smells in here. I had forgotten that you were going to be quite smelly this morning. I hope you think twice about pulling a stunt like that again. Oh well, after breakfast I will let you clean up," Jackie went on to say.

Not one to waste words, Spencer just nodded his head and dug into breakfast as soon as his left hand was free. While he ate Jackie prattled on about her plans for the day.

"After you clean up I am going to have you get back in bed. Don't worry; I will change your sheets while you are showering. I may have been angry yesterday, but I'm not going to keep holding your pathetic escape attempt against you. Anyways, I have to attend church this morning. I'm in charge of the nursery today, so I don't want anyone to miss me!"

Reid swallowed a large chunk of waffle that he had been chewing and asked, "You like children?"

"Sure, I love being in charge of the nursery. I hope to have a little one of my own one day," she said with a sparkle in her eye as she looked at Reid like a predator scoping out its prey.

Reid totally missed Jackie's predatory look as he finished off the last of his orange juice. He set it down and thanked her for the breakfast, hoping to stay on her good side this morning. "Um…Jackie, I was wondering if you could bring me the bag from the car so I could wear my glasses."

As Jackie removed the breakfast tray from his lap and released him the rest of the way from the bed she responded, "I would, but unfortunately all of your belongings have been disposed of. If you know your prescription perhaps I could order you some contacts. I have a feeling you're going to be around long enough to need a fresh pair." Of course throughout all of this, Jackie didn't let down her guard and still had a gun at her disposal as she watched him amble off to the bathroom on his lethargic limbs.

Reid didn't show his disappointment in finding out his belongings were gone, but let out a sigh as he closed the bathroom door. He didn't dwell on his loss too long because being able to shower off the filth was a glorious feeling to relish. He scrubbed every part of his body with soap, twice. Reid was glad that Jackie had removed the shock collar last night so he didn't risk the chance of electrocution in the shower. As he scrubbed he noticed that his neck had a red ring around it and the parts of his body that came into contact with the glue and acetone yesterday were a bit irritated, but otherwise they seemed okay. He savored every patter of warm water soaking his skin and had to wake himself up from his revels in order to comply with the time limit. He still wanted to brush his teeth before getting back in bed. The only thing that put a damper on his time in the bathroom was the ever permanent cuffs on his wrists and ankles and the chain about his waist. They were on pretty tight and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't squeeze them over his appendages. Right now they were soaked from the shower and slightly chaffing his body. He couldn't imagine what types of marks they would leave if he had to wear them for an extended period of time.

Reid quickly changed into the new clothes Jackie provided as soon as he got out of the shower. He didn't want to risk Jackie opening the door on him while he was naked. He brushed his teeth and knocked on the door to signal to Jackie that he was ready to come out. She cautiously unlocked the door, trained the gun on him and gestured to the bed. "Go on, you've got fresh linens and everything. I'll only be a few hours and then maybe we will go for a walk when I get back. Since it's Sunday we won't be working on the sculpture today. I always honor Sunday as a day of rest."

Reid was compliant as she once again restrained him to the bed. "I hope you like pot roast, because I am making it for dinner tonight. If you're lucky I will let you come down to the dinner table to eat with me," Jackie said as she finished fastening his left ankle to the bed.

"Well, don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone," she said with a smirk. He turned his head to look out the window while he heard her turn the locks into place.

* * *

"This sucks!" Morgan said with vehemence as he flung himself down in a chair around a conference room table in the local police station.

"Are you sure there was nothing in the car that will help?" Rossi questioned while he twirled a pencil between his fingers.

"Well, all of his belongings were in the car but they don't really offer any clues as to what happened to him. The car was obviously not in an accident. You could see where it got dented from its trip into the river, but other than that it wasn't in a collision. There's nothing," Morgan said hopelessly.

"Not necessarily," Rossi responded. "Didn't you send the GPS off to Garcia to see if she could salvage anything from its memory?"

"Yeah, but besides telling us the last place he visited, I don't see it doing us any good."

"We could always follow his route exactly as the GPS remembers and scout the area. We may find that he took a route that we didn't expect. When we get the data back from Garcia we should scout out any roads that he might have taken," Rossi explained to Morgan.

Hotch was standing in the doorway to the conference room listening to the conversation. It had been a grueling day yesterday rife with disappointment. After JJ and Morgan came back virtually empty handed and the lumber yard questionings yielded no results Hotch had decided to call it a night. Needless to say the team didn't agree with his directives and they all sat at in the conference room bouncing ideas off of each other for a few more hours. It was when JJ stumbled after getting up to get more coffee that Hotch decided to force his subordinates to go back to the motel. A few more protests were verbalized, but Hotch sent them on their way nonetheless. While Hotch felt it necessary for the team to get some rest he stayed put until around 1:00 A.M. trying to find a hint of a lead. It took the fact that his eyes were starting to see double for him to finally decide to go get some rest. He passed out when he got back to the hotel and forgot to set his alarm. Therefore he was late to the station and found two of his teammates already working on the case.

Clearing his throat and walking into the room Hotch said, "Good Morning. Let's get started. Where are JJ and Prentiss?"

"The girls went to get us all coffee. They should be back soon," Rossi replied.

"Okay, Morgan, you call Garcia to see if she got the GPS yet. Find out how long she thinks it will take to get any information out of it. I liked your idea, Rossi, about driving around using the routes that Reid took. Perhaps we can find someone who may have seen his car. Once we get the information from Garcia we will have to check out the routes. In the meantime we need to focus on the unsub. It's Sunday, we may have a lot more than a missing agent on our hands by the end of the day," Hotch said as he took the reins of today's investigation.

As soon as the girls got back with the coffee the tasks were divvied up appropriately. There wasn't a moment to lose for the worried friends and they were intent upon finding their missing teammate by the end of the day.

* * *

Reid could smell the delicious scent of pot roast wafting upstairs from the kitchen. As much as he hated to admit it he was really hungry and was looking forward to getting out of bed. Jackie had left him here all day long, only coming in once to let him use the bathroom. Apparently her promise to take a walk fell to the wayside as she went about her seemingly busy Sunday. His limbs were aching from inactivity and he yearned to exercise them. How long it would take for his muscles to start to atrophy at this rate?

The sound of the creaking stairs startled Reid out of his thoughts. He looked toward the door hoping to hear the clicks from the locks turning. He was not disappointed as the resounding snaps made way for Jackie stepping into the room.

"Dinner is served!" she said enthusiastically. "I made the pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and bread. I haven't been able to cook a proper Sunday dinner for someone else in such a long time. My muses usually don't join me until after dinner on Sunday, but you really are the exception."

She put the shock collar back on him, "Just to make sure you don't try anything stupid," she said. Then she went about freeing him from the bed. She attached his hands to his waist via short lengths of chains and an additional length of chain was strung between his ankles. She wanted to restrict his stepping size as another form of insurance against escape.

She signaled to him to exit the bedroom door. "I have the dining room table all set up. I used my mom's china set since this is our first formal dinner together."

Reid shambled out of the bedroom door and made his way cautiously down the stairs. He had to hold the bar in the stairwell to help steady his restricted steps. Jackie followed him down and had to grab his shirt a few times to keep him stable. As Reid entered the dining room he took in all the wonderful aromas in one deep inhalation. His stomach growled in anticipation. He wasn't looking forward to dining with Jackie so intimately, but the promise of a real meal was too enticing.

"Take a seat here," Jackie said as she pulled out a chair for him at the head of the table.

"Um…thank you," Reid said. He had expected her to fasten him somehow to the table, but she just pushed in his chair as he sat down. She walked to the other side of the table and made herself comfortable. Jackie started doling out the food onto her plate and made to hand Reid the platter of roast. "Jackie…," Reid began to point out that he couldn't take the platter from her when she realized it herself.

"Oh yeah, well I guess I will just have to serve you," she said with a bright smile as she got up to portion out food onto his plate. She didn't even ask what he wanted, but gave him a little bit of everything. He struggled to eat the food off of his plate but found that if he crouched over slightly that eating from his fork was possible.

Jackie tried to make small talk at the start of the dinner, but Reid wasn't in the mood for placating her. He just nodded when possible and used one word answers when needed. Eventually Jackie caught on to his unwillingness to talk, but she left it alone. They continued the meal in an awkward silence after that.

It was about halfway through the meal that Jackie snapped her head up at the sound of a car crunching the gravel in the driveway. She jolted out of her chair and raced over to where Reid was sitting. Without any warning she hit the button on the shock collar remote and caused his body to quake from the resulting electricity. She took the opportunity of his reaction to the shock to jerk him out of his seat by the chain connecting his cuffs together. She rushed to pull him up the stairs and back into the bedroom. Outside Reid could hear the muffled sounds of car doors slamming shut, but he was too disoriented from the shock to ascertain what it could mean. Jackie was in the middle of fastening him back onto the bed when the doorbell rang. She knew that whoever was at the door wasn't going to go away because the house was lit up like Las Vegas at night, signaling that someone was home. She yelled down, "I'll be right there," as she reached into the nightstand draw and pulled out a gag was shaped like a tongue, which when inserted would force his tongue to stay immobile.

When Reid saw the gag his eyes went wide and he started sputtering out, "No, no, no…," while shaking his head. "Help," he yelled out hoping that the visitors could hear him. His yell gave Jackie the opportunity to shove the gag into his mouth and fasten it behind his head.

"You'll regret that later," she said cryptically before she practically ran out the door and thundered down the stairs.

Reid, fully restrained, struggled against the gag in his mouth by trying to push against it with his tongue, but he knew it was no use. He listened closely to hear Jackie open the door.

"Hello. How can I help you gentleman?" drifted upstairs to his ears. Her voice was very faint but he could hear a semblance of the conversation.

"Hello ma'am. I am SSA Aaron Hotchner and this is SSA Morgan. We are from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit and we are investigating a local case. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions," Reid heard Hotch say.

Upon hearing Aaron's voice Reid began to writhe against the bonds holding him down. "Damn it, why did she have to secure me so tightly," his thoughts screamed. He thrust his hips up and down hoping to make a thumping sound loud enough to draw the agents up the stairs. He did his best to let out some subdued moans fighting against the wretched gag in his mouth.

"Of course! But why don't we step outside. The house is so hot because the oven has been on all day. The porch is a beautiful place to sit and chat," Jackie said as she steered them out of the house.

"We aren't interrupting anything are we ma'am?" questioned Morgan as he stopped on the threshold.

"Oh no, dinner won't be ready for a bit and my guests have yet to arrive," Jackie lied through her teeth.

Upon hearing a faint thumping sound Hotch silenced everyone, "Shhh…" He looked at Jackie with a raised eyebrow. "Do you hear that? What is that sound?" asked Hotch, always on alert.

"Oh that? It's just my washing machine. It thumps around whenever I overload it with clothes," she explained. "Now why don't you two head out to the porch and I will get us some lemonade."

"That's not necessary ma'am," Morgan said.

"Of course it is. My momma taught me some manners. If you're lucky maybe I will bring you out some cookies too," Jackie stated as she pushed them out the door.

Giving up the fight against all that was keeping him down Reid finally dropped to the bed in exhaustion. He heard the agents walk out the door and Jackie fussing around in the kitchen. If the room he was kept in wasn't at the back of the house he would still be struggling with all his might, but he felt it was useless at this point. Tears of frustration and powerlessness rolled down his cheeks when he realized that his best chance at escape had just walked out the door to enjoy a cold drink of lemonade with his capture.

He wasn't sure how long had passed when he heard the front door shut signaling Jackie's presence back in the house. His tears had long since dried but the traces of the tracks still streaked his face. He could hear Jackie creeping back upstairs to check on him. Suddenly she was in the doorway that she had neglected to shut on her way to greet the agents. She stood and stared at him for what seemed like ages, and then she slowly made her way over to the bed.

Towering over him she leaned down and whispered in his ear, "You made some really stupid choices today and now you've gotta learn your lesson again."

A shudder ran down Reid's spine. He had no idea what to expect from this woman. He watched as she made her way to the foot of the bed. From out of nowhere she produced a pair of pliers, and Reid suddenly knew what she had planned. He shook his head back and forth while trying to curl his toes into his foot as best he could.

"Doesn't matter if you regret your actions now, this is going to happen," Jackie taunted him as she grabbed his left foot in her hand. She pried up his big toe and placed the pliers to the nail. Without any ceremony she ripped the nail right out of its bed. Reid let out a muffled scream as the tears came back to cascade down his face.

Jackie moved on to his right foot and proceeded to give it the same treatment. Again, Reid couldn't hold in his pain and screamed. It's amazing how such a little thing can hurt so much. Jackie let go of his foot and stood back to stare at her handy work. She watched as the blood pooled up on the nail beds and trickled down his feet. Taking the pliers she flicked his right toe nail at him and it landed on his chest. He stared down horrified at his bloody toenail that had scraps of his skin attached, and resisted to urge to bring up the pot roast. If he threw up now he would choke on the bile due to the horrid gag. "God, where are his teammates? They were so close!" Reid heartbrokenly thought.

Jackie moved back up to the head of the bed and leaned over to whisper to him again, "I want you to know that your friends are gone. They weren't even here to question me about you. They wanted to see if I had any information about the recent killings. For FBI agents, they were really easy to fool. I thought their job was to read people? They need to find a different line of work. Well, enjoy your night. I gotta go clean up our dinner."

Reid had no response as Jackie turned and left the room. While she saunter away all he could think about was how hopeless his situation seemed now that his team had eliminated the unsub as a suspect.

* * *

"Something didn't seem right Hotch," Morgan said once they got back in the car and headed back down the gravel driveway of Jacqueline Riley's house. They had stopped there on a whim. They were following what the GPS had identified as Reid's possible route back to the station. Along the road were several houses, and as of yet not one had seen the agent or his car on Friday night.

"I know. Something felt off about the whole situation. I couldn't put my finger on it though. She didn't seem at all disturbed by our presence or the fact that we thought she might have some information pertaining to Reid. Usually people seem a bit put off by our presence, but she was as cool as a cucumber."

"Yeah, I definitely think we should have Garcia check her out," Morgan said as he dialed the tech analyst.

"All Powerful Wonderful Wizardess of Oz," Garcia answered.

"Hey girly, we got a name for you to check out," Morgan said.

"Of course, give it to me and I will pry his or her socks off."

"Jacqueline Riley."

"Alrighty, I will hit ya back when I got some dirt," Garcia cheerfully signed off.

Hotch sighed as Morgan hung up the phone. "Well at least another victim hasn't been taken yet today. But the night is still young so we can't assume anything yet."

"Right, but if there isn't another victim taken tonight am I wrong to think that perhaps Reid took their place?" Morgan questioned with a bit of fear present in his voice.

"This is one time that I really hope you are wrong," Hotch stated as he unknowingly drove farther away from his friend and colleague whom he had come so close to finding.


	7. Miles Apart

**I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not make a profit off of this story or its characters.**

* * *

**Four Weeks Later**

Reid watched as the door opened slowly and let a flood of music into the room. Jackie stood in the doorway holding his breakfast, it seemed as though she was inspecting him. He thought it was strange that she was taking so long to walk into the room, and his stomach growled in anticipation.

"Sounds like someone is hungry," Jackie stated as the growl roused her out of her thoughts. She walked over to Reid, set down his breakfast, and released his left hand so he could eat. She took her normal position in a chair across from the bed and small talked while he ate. She provided him a meager meal of toast that had already been smothered in grape jelly, and milk. He ate it ravenously, but did not feel full when the meal was gone. He didn't verbally ask her what the deal was, but he did give her a questioning look to convey his feelings about his inadequate meal. These meager meals that Jackie had been providing him with lately were keeping him in a weak state physically, especially when added to his lack of movement. Reid figured that her plan was to keep his energy in a sapped state in order to manipulate him easier.

"I know that it wasn't much this morning, but I got a special treat for you later. I want you hungry enough to eat it," she said with a mysterious smile. "Anyways, let's get this show on the road. I got places to be."

Wordlessly, Jackie and Reid went through the motions that they had adhered to over the last 30 days. He got his bathroom time and was able to feel like he was in control of himself for a few minutes out of his day. It was always over to quickly, and soon enough he was at the mercy of that madwoman again. Due to church, Jackie secured Reid back in bed so she wouldn't have to worry about him while she was gone.

Once she left Reid started to reminisce over the last few weeks of his captivity. After the night that Hotch and Morgan showed up at the door Reid had steadily been giving up hope that his friends were ever going to find him. Regardless of what Jackie had told him, he had thought that they would come back that night storming the house shouting out "FBI" as they kicked down doors, but that never happened. When Reid woke up the next morning just as helpless as when he fell asleep, he started to give in to his situation.

Throughout the first week Jackie continued to sculpt him out in the barn. Daily he was subjected to the humiliating walk from the house to the barn with the leash attached to the shock collar. She continued to superglue him into position and kept him that way for long ungodly hours. His skin started to redden and flake in the areas that were in constant contact with the glue and acetone. He had to use the lotion that Jackie provided on his skin after his nightly shower to keep it from getting to an unmanageable point. His lips were the worst though. She still insisted on gluing them shut while she worked to ensure complete silence. Due to the glue he had lost layers of skin off of his lips and they would crack and bleed whenever he opened his mouth. He ended up tasting tinges of blood every time he went to talk or eat.

Admittedly, Reid had gotten a bit nervous when he realized that Jackie was nearing completion on her version of "The Thinker." He knew that she disposed of her muses after a week, and she seemed right on schedule with the sculpture. In the end, he didn't need to worry because Jackie told him straight out that she wasn't letting him go when she finished. She couldn't stop gushing about how he was an absolute dream to work with, and how she had so many more ideas for sculptures based around him.

Over the next few weeks Jackie churned out three more sculptures and used an immeasurable amount of wood. It was amazing how much wood she had at her disposal. He wondered at times how she was able to transport it all by herself. Did she have an unknowing partner that had no clue as to what she was doing in regards to her sculptures? That was definitely something he wanted to ask her the next time they got a chance to talk.

At the thought of the pine wood his mind wandered to the poses he was forced to withstand. For the second sculpture she decided to depict Reid lying on his stomach as if he was in a grassy meadow looking out over the fields. She had him lying down on the barn floor with his chin propped up by his two hands. His legs were kicked up behind him, bent at the knee. She had to apply splints to his lower legs, from the knee down to keep them up in the air the whole session. The splints were strapped to his legs but then driven into the ground so if he got too weak to hold up his legs, and he did, the splint would do the work for him. It was agony every night when he had to walk back into the house, and the aching in his knees would keep him up.

The next sculpture that Jackie carved had increased Reid's psychological discomfort tenfold because the position left him feeling exposed. This whole time Jackie had respected his privacy when it came to cleaning himself and taking care of his body. Not once had she forced him to reveal himself to her in any way and for that he was thankful. Unfortunately, the next pose entailed Reid exposing his chest while thrusting it forward through a button down shirt that was left undone. She had him sitting on the ground with his hands behind him propping up his torso. Initially Reid thought that his knees were going to get a break this week, but he was wrong. He started out with his legs straight out in front of him, but Jackie was quick to come and bend his knees up forcing his body to have more angles. She didn't have to use the splints on his legs this time because she secured his feet and buttocks to the floor which ensured he couldn't straiten his legs even if he wanted to. Keeping his arms straight was a challenge too, but Jackie solved it by using removable casts that kept his arms straight and supported the whole session. Again, Reid was in agony each night and mentally pleading for his stay here to end.

For her latest piece, Jackie turned up the discomfort by mimicking a classic. She decided to have Reid recreate Michelangelo's "David." And true to form she made Reid pose nude. This revelation did not go over well with him at all. He verbally lashed out at her when he found out he wouldn't have any clothes whatsoever, but Jackie was quick on the draw with the shock collar. After countless shocks that were meant to force him into submission, Reid lost his will to fight. He retreated to a place in his mind where he could ignore the whole situation while his body moved on autopilot. He had thought that if he could get lost in his own mind he would be able to block out what was happening. It didn't really work because at the end of each work day Reid was well aware that he spent over six hours exposing his body to a mentally unstable woman, and he couldn't help but feel shame overwhelming his thoughts.

The creepiest thing was how much Jackie enjoyed seeing him nude. Once he had exposed his chest for the third sculpture he noticed how Jackie had increased her physical contact with him. She would brush against his body whenever the opportunity arose, and she would make sure to stroke his face every night when she finished securing him to the bed. When she forced him to come out nude the first day of the Michelangelo sculpture her eyes seemed to roam over every nook and cranny of his body. She looked like a hungry wolf that just found a succulent rabbit to enjoy. He had to clear his throat to get her to snap out of whatever demented thoughts she was lost in at the time. Her infatuation with his body seemed to increase each day, and Reid felt pieces of his dignity get scrapped away with every invasive look.

Overall, posing for "David" was quite an experience because Jackie had to truss him up every day to keep him in a standing position because he was so weak. There were ropes that came down from the ceiling that Jackie would secure under his armpits. It was quite uncomfortable and he got rope burn from the constant chafing. She decided to honor the original by not changing any of the pose, so he had to endure his left arm and leg being bent at awkward angles throughout each session.

Jackie had finished the sculpture yesterday, but hadn't mentioned what she wanted to attempt next. Truthfully, Reid didn't really care what was next. It couldn't get any worse than the last pose. However, he was very curious about this special meal that Jackie was bringing him. His breakfast didn't really appease his appetite at all and his stomach had started growling in discomfort again. Maybe she would bring him some lunch and then they would go for a walk. He really needed to stretch his legs and regain some control over his body, even if it was just for a little while. At the thought of movement, he wiggled about a bit trying to bring some circulation back to his deteriorating limbs.

As he settled back down into his repetitive position, Reid allowed his mind to wander back into its deep emotional recesses. He couldn't help but think that he was in this alone, and that thought depressed him more than anything. For the past few weeks memories of his team had given him something to live for, but with each passing day their faces seemed to fade a bit. Reid knew that this all sounded a bit melodramatic, but when one is captured in a mind as vast and reaching as his there is nothing to do but over-analyze things and come to drastic conclusions. In the end, he had convinced himself that his team had run out of leads and given up on ever finding him. The way he saw it he had two choices, find a way to end his stay or shut away his mind so there was just a shell of him left for Jackie to use as her muse.

* * *

Morgan sighed with disdain as he looked again at the map of Kennebunk. It had been four weeks since their genius went missing and the team couldn't find a trace of him. The last time he felt anything close to hope was earlier in the month when the officer reported finding the unmarked car, but that turned out to be a dead end.

Morgan's spirit had been crushed on Friday when the team was forced to pack up their things and head back to Quantico. It had been a pipe dream to think that they would be allowed to stay in Maine any longer. The unsub had gone underground and ceased taking victims. The people of Kennebunk began to feel safe again, and even the local police began to hope that the serial killer was water under the bridge. Of course, the case would stay open with a few detectives working on it, but there wasn't a reason any more to keep the team in town. Strauss had been patient enough to let them stick around this long but she said that there were cases piling up that needed their attention. Hotch had argued about leaving a man behind, but in the end it was a losing battle. By eight o'clock Friday night the incomplete team was on the jet heading back home.

Saturday morning found Morgan in Garcia's cave running searches on various people in Maine. At this point it felt like they were grasping at straws, but he felt like he had to do something. There was an unspoken agreement between the two that they would dedicate all of their off time looking for their missing friend. It turned out that their other teammates had the same idea. For, Morgan had walked out into the bullpen to go get coffee and noticed that Hotch was in his office with Rossi. He wandered on over and peered into the open doorway.

"Good morning! What are you guys up to?" Morgan asked casually.

"I'd imagine the same thing you are doing with Garcia," Rossi answer with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ah, right. You guys know that I can't just let this whole thing go…," Morgan trailed off.

"Of course we know. That's why we're here too. Since we're all here for the same reason why don't we meet in the conference room and hash out a plan. We can decide who is going to do what on their free time. That way we can cover more ground and narrow a suspect list," Hotch said.

"Good idea. I'll go get Garcia. Should we bring JJ and Prentiss in on this too?" Morgan asked.

"Speak of the devil," Rossi said looking out of Hotch's office window toward the elevator which had just opened to reveal the two women.

"Well it seems that great minds think alike. Morgan, go fill them in and have everyone meet in the conference room in ten minutes," Hotch directed.

"Hotch; are we going to let Strauss know that we are working on this?" Morgan asked.

"No, what we do in our off time is our business. As long as we focus on solving the cases given to us in the meanwhile I see no reason to bring her in on this. Anyways, I doubt that she thinks we're going to give up on looking for him. I figure our investigation is a given and as long as we aren't using company time we should be fine."

With that being said, Morgan left to go get the rest of the team. While they may be miles apart from Reid, it didn't mean that they had to stop searching for him.

* * *

It was growing dark outside when Reid finally heard the front door open and then Jackie stomping into the house. He listened as she went into the kitchen and fiddle around in the cabinets. He really hoped she would make her way upstairs soon as he hadn't gotten to use the bathroom since this morning, and really needed to go now!

Luck was on his side because soon after the noise in the kitchen dissipated he heard her footsteps on the stairs. Soon enough the door to the bedroom was being unlocked and Jackie was walking in with his dinner and a T.V. tray. She set up the T.V. tray with one hand and set the dinner down on it.

"I thought I would eat up here with you this evening. Sorry I've been gone for so long. It took longer than I thought it would to get the supplies and I ended up having to drive two towns over for what I needed. And, after church I got caught up with the pastor. I ended up having lunch with him. Oh, that reminds me, I have some good news and some bad news to share. It can wait till we eat dinner though. So, would you like to eat now or go to the bathroom?" Jackie asked.

"Bathroom," was the only thing Reid said in response.

Jackie nodded and set to work. Reid was so excited to relieve his bladder that he practically ran to the bathroom on his shaky legs. It seemed like he spent a lifetime in there taking care of his business, but in less than ten minutes he was knocking on the door signaling that he was done.

When Jackie opened the door to let him out he noticed the room looked a bit different. Scattered around the room was an eclectic array of candles letting off a warm glow. He also noticed that she had some soft music playing in the background. Spencer felt a bit confused as he allowed Jackie to escort him back to the bed.

"What's all this for?" he asked her with curiosity.

"Well, I figured that since we were going to have a nice dinner together I should set the mood," Jackie explained as she fastened him back in bed.

"Set the mood for what?"

"Come on now! When two people share an intimate dinner together there should be a pleasant vibe to the room."

"Oh…," was all Reid could say as he mulled over the implications of her words.

"So, let's get to eating. I thought we should start our first course with this delicious tortilla soup from a restaurant downtown. It is one of the best soups I have ever had," Jackie gushed.

Reid had to admit, it was a really good soup. He ate it voraciously, and was really sad when his bowl went dry. If all the courses were going to taste this good, he couldn't wait to eat the rest of the meal. Unfortunately, he had to listen to Jackie prattle on and on while he ate. All throughout the soup course she filled him in on the gossip she garnered from church that morning. In fact, it was the topic of church gossip that lead to Jackie revealing the good and bad news.

"Oh yeah! I wanted to tell you what Pastor Jim told me over lunch. He told me that the church is going to throw a bazaar next month and they want me to have a whole booth dedicated to my statues. It's such good news because I have been looking for a better way to get my name out there. Word of mouth hasn't really been helping me sell much, and money is getting a bit tight around here. The bad news is that I have to stop sculpting you for a while. I need to make some pieces that customers will expect. You know people like the kitschy stuff that they can stick in their garden; gnomes, old people with their bottoms in their air, bears on their hind legs with a paw extended. I hate having to bring down my level of work to fit the tastes of the public. But if you want to make money you have got to appeal to the clientele. Heck, maybe one day I can turn my studio into a shop and show off all my edgier pieces," she said with a twinkle in her eyes and seemingly all in one breath.

Reid just sat and listened but his ears perked up when he heard that she wasn't going to be working with him for a bit. He would finally get a break after four straight weeks of posing. This was the best news he had heard in a long time.

Jackie moved on to serving the second course which turned out to be a New York strip steak cooked medium with a side of rosemary roasted fingerling potatoes. Again, the food was delicious even if it was slightly cold from waiting inside the cloche for so long. The steak was pre-cut into bite sized pieces because Jackie would never be foolish enough to give him a knife. She continued to talk all throughout the meal undeterred by his silence. Reid had figured out a few weeks ago that if he kept quiet Jackie would entertain herself with a one sided conversation. He would throw in a few nods now and then when she actually posed a question, but tried to avoid engaging in anything meaningful.

It was during the main course that he started to feel an odd sensation building in his body. He didn't know how to describe it but he could feel his face becoming flush and a throbbing sensation in his nether regions. He decided to ignore it attributing it to the delicious food that was now occupying his body.

After he had scarfed down the steak Jackie brought out the dessert. It was a simple hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles. Eating a sundae one handed is a bit more difficult than it sounds. He didn't realize how important that second appendage was in keeping the dish in place as you scooped out your delicious treat. Jackie had to lend a hand in steadying the dish while he enjoyed his meal's grand finale.

While he was getting at the last bit of ice cream out of the dish the strange feeling in his body became undeniable. He felt stiffening in his lower appendage that clearly had no business being there. There was absolutely nothing arousing about the dinner they just shared, at least not to him, and his member shouldn't be struggling to stand at attention.

"Um…Jackie, I don't feel really good right now. I think I had too much to eat. Do you think you could let me out to the bathroom again?" He asked with a hint of pleading in his voice. Reid's face was flushing a deep color of red as he began to suspect what might have been given to him via the supposedly impromptu meal.

"Are you feeling it?" Jackie asked. "I wasn't sure how soon it would begin to work since I laced the soup with it. See, I meant to tell you this while we were enjoying dinner but it didn't seem like the right time."

"Tell me what?"

"Well, I got to thinking about two weeks ago about the farm. I was thinking about how I didn't have anyone to pass it on to if something was to happen to me. I don't want it to be taken over by the bank and I don't want to just leave it to charity. So anyways, I was thinking I that what I needed was someone of blood to pass it on to…" Jackie trailed off hoping Reid would get the hint.

Reid sputtered out his next words, "You want to have a child?" It was more of a statement than a question, but he felt the need to clarify.

"In layman's terms, yes. You are the perfect candidate to help me with this endeavor too! You're intelligent, in good health, and really cute. Imagine the child that we could produce together. What with my artistic ability and your intelligence our child would be unstoppable," she gushed.

"I don't want a child. I'm not ready for one and I sure as hell don't want to bring one into the world with someone I don't love," Reid said vehemently.

This was not the right thing to say because Jackie started fuming at Reid's harsh words. "You don't love me? After all I've done for you? I have made you immortal! Your image will never be forgotten because it's set in beautiful pieces of art. I have taken care of you and managed your every need. Look, this isn't a choice. This is going to happen whether you want it to or not. Any child would be lucky to have me as a mother, but we will see if you're going to be around long enough to be its father," she practically yelled.

With her last words Jackie stood up and snatched the tray off of Reid's lap, throwing it down on the floor by the door. She walked up to the bed and started to unzip his pants.

"Please don't do this!" Reid pleaded as he struggled against her invasive hands. "I don't want this!"

"It doesn't matter. I am going to get what I want, with or without your consent."

She pulled his pants along with his boxers down to his ankles, unable to take them off fully due to the restraints. His manhood sprung up and was laying on his abdomen throbbing in unwanted anticipation from the Viagra she concealed in his soup. He tried to use his free hand to push her away as she pulled down his pants, but Jackie rectified the problem by quickly going to the head of the bed and restraining his protesting hand once again. Now he was completely exposed and had no power to stop what was going to happen next.


	8. How I Go

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Criminal Minds (tear).**

**Thanks to anyone who reviewed and added my story! I appreciate your kind words and love reading them.**

**This chapter was pretty hard to write. It's pretty much the explanation for the direction the story took. There are maybe two more chapters left after this. Enjoy.**

* * *

Reid couldn't believe he had been living in this hell for two months. It was about seven in the morning and Reid strained to hear any signs indicating whether or not Jackie was up yet. He was immobilized on the bed, as usual, looking out the window as the sun came up over the pine trees. It was one of those gorgeous sunrises that had colors ranging from orange sherbet to raspberry red. The effect on the trees created a breathtaking illusion. The way the light shined through the gaps made him momentarily think the forest was on fire in a blaze of glory. Reid savored the feeling of peace that overcame him when watching this natural occurrence each day. In fact, he really looked forward to watching it every morning because the sunrise turned out to be the only small pleasure he could find in this horrific situation.

Reid knew that he was in a deep depression. Ever since Jackie decided to sexually assault him he couldn't get himself out of a self-loathing funk. He knew all the classic symptoms that assault victims displayed and could match them with the various moods he had experienced over the last month.

Jackie assaulted him multiple times over the course of four days. She said that she had been tracking the optimal time for her to conceive and came up with a four day window. Since Jackie knew that Reid wouldn't fall for the medicine in the food trick again she decided to cut to the chase and force it down his throat the subsequent days. She kept him strapped down on the bed, forced his mouth open, inserted the pill, dumped water into his mouth and smothered him until he swallowed the sexual stimulant.

The first time it happened Jackie tried to make it enjoyable for him too, but Reid refused to acknowledge her effort. He knew he couldn't control his own body due to the stimulation and medication but he didn't have to act like he enjoyed it. Reid kept his eyes screwed shut throughout the whole ordeal and refused to let out a sound. Jackie seemed to be offended at first but she didn't let it stop her. She mercilessly continued her mission of conception and took full advantage of his involuntary erection. In all, she assaulted him eight times. Each subsequent assault became less emotional for her and more mission-based.

While Jackie may have been able to push her emotions to the side Reid wasn't so lucky. Each time he felt her straddle him on the bed he tried to retreat into his mind. Blocking out his emotions was way more difficult than he would have imagined, especially when she succeeded in insertion and had him fully sheathed in her. His body wanted to react to the sensation that naturally felt good, but his mind screamed "No." How could any man successfully hold out under these circumstances? He was ashamed each time he achieved orgasm because for a few brief seconds he enjoyed the sensation.

Actually, his shame encompassed more than his involuntary sexual enjoyment. There were so many facets to the indignity that he felt. He was humiliated because he was constantly at the whim of a deranged woman who treated him a little bit better than a dog. He felt disgraced because he couldn't fight back even if he was free because his muscles have withered over the past two months. He was embarrassed because he was allowing himself to be used like a sex-toy in order for this woman to produce an offspring to mold into her protégé.

He knew that in reality he wasn't allowing any of it to happen. Everything was being forced onto him against his will, but his masculine side liked to lay the blame on him being too weak to defend himself. In turn, this shame wheel that he was caught on sent his mind spiraling down into dark crevasses that reinforced his humiliation and made it impossible for him to pull out of the depression.

Furthermore, Reid could tell that Jackie was becoming disillusioned with him. She recognized the signs of defeat in him and found it quite unattractive. To add to that, Reid had begun to mouth off to Jackie after the assaults. He confronted her about how she contradicted her own morals by holding him hostage for her own means. He found himself cursing at her and going off on tirades whenever she walked into the room. His mouth seemed to have a mind of its own and ensued to release a slew of word-vomit meant to prevent Jackie from continuing her relentless pursuit of a child. It was all for naught though, because after the first few times Jackie just kept him gagged until it was time for him to eat.

Reid had begun to worry about what the future held for him. Then one morning Jackie clued him in on her plans.

* * *

_(Flashback)_

"_Good morning sunshine," Jackie said cheerfully as she walked in the room with Reid's breakfast. "I made waffles again!"_

_Reid just glared at her from his awkward position on the bed._

"_Let me take that gag off so you can eat, but don't get mouthy. I have no problem with putting it back on and leaving you hungry for the rest of the day," Jackie said forcefully as she removed the vile tongue-shaped gag from his mouth. _

_Reid flexed his jaw once it was free of from the obstruction. Earlier this morning, he decided he wasn't going to talk to Jackie today in order to get a chance to eat some food. He hadn't eaten in two days because of an outburst he had during dinner one night when Jackie started to discuss her hopes of having a child in her womb._

_Once his hand was released from its position Reid dug into his waffles. Jackie made her way over to the chair and sat down to watch. Reid tried to ignore her as he ate, but his eyes kept wandering in her general direction. Eventually he made eye contact with her and she took this as her cue to start talking._

"_Well, I wanted to let you know what's going to happen over these next two weeks. I think one reason that you have been so ornery lately is that you feel out of the loop. I know that my sudden decision to use you to help me have a child took you by surprise. But you've gotta admit you're genes would help me make an amazing child," Jackie said._

_Reid paused his eating and stared her down while she spoke. He had so many hateful comebacks bouncing around in his head, but he held his tongue. Reid was intent on not interrupting her because this was the first time she admitted to having a plan for his future. He wanted to hear every tiny detail._

"_I realized one night that I need someone to pass all of this on to," she gestured to the room and the yard outside. "This house has been in our family for generations and I don't want the legacy to end with me. That's when I made the decision to use you as more than just a muse. I thought you would be flattered with my choice. Honestly. But you made it very clear that you want no part with my life or with conceiving a child. Over these past few weeks you have said some really hurtful things and it really made me think twice about how amazing I thought you were. I realized that you aren't all your cracked up to be, and I don't see a future for you with me and my future family. So with that being said, I am going to keep you around until I officially have conceived a child. After my doctor confirms that I have a little one growing in my body I will dispose of you like all the others before," Jackie explained._

_Reid sat there for a second trying to comprehend what was being said. "What?" he croaked out, hoping for a bit more clarification for his muddled brain._

"_I am going to kill you," she said nonchalantly. "You have lost your luster and I don't need you anymore. In fact, I have another muse in mind and can't wait to bring him home."_

_Breaking his resolution not to talk again, Reid questioned "What if you weren't successful with conception last month?" He had to know if this was his last day on Earth or if he had some more time to figure out a way to escape._

"_Oh, I thought about that too. I am going to keep you until we are successful. I can't pass up those genius genes you have in your DNA. Not to mention that I think we would make one hell of a cute baby too!" she said slightly maniacally._

_Reid had nothing to say in response. He was busy trying to wrap his head around it all. His life depended on a woman not having a child with him. The thought that depressed him even more was that if she wasn't with child all he had to look forward to was continued bouts of assault. So that was it, rape or death._

* * *

Morgan hated sitting in coach on the airplane. He always seemed to get stuck sitting next to the crying kid. It was Friday night and Morgan had managed to make the last flight out of Virginia. He was headed back to Maine to spend his weekend searching for his lost friend. Since he was doing this on his own time using the jet was out of the question. No matter how powerful Hotch may be he couldn't let the team use the jet for their own personal endeavors. Which was stupid, since looking for Reid should qualify as work related.

Over the last month the team never gave up on searching for Reid, especially Morgan. His missing brother haunted his thoughts day and night. Any free time Morgan had was spent on searching for Reid. He had read through the case file countless times, poured over the interviews that were conducted, and researched the city. Morgan knew there had to be something that they were overlooking.

Morgan had a game plan mapped out for his visit. It involved re-interviewing some of the people that were along the route Reid took to get back to the police station. Then, he planned on going to local hot spots to people watch and observe behavior. Finally, he wanted to walk the path that the car took down the river and get an idea of where it may have entered. Something had to lead him to his buddy. There had to be a clue somewhere!

The jostling of the plane landing shook Morgan free from his thoughts. He grabbed his carry on and made his way out of the airport. It was pretty late at night. He still needed to rent a car and drive all the way to Kennebunk. He planned on getting some low grade motel room till morning and then he would make his way to the police station.

If everything worked out the way Morgan hoped, he wouldn't be coming back from Kennebunk alone.

* * *

Rape or death. That thought brought him back to the present and dampened his enjoyment of the sunrise. He turned his head as he heard the door unlocking and waited for Jackie to emerge.

As usual, she was carrying her breakfast, but today she had an extra-large smile on her face. She set down his meal on his lap, but didn't release his hand. He stared at the food then looked up at her.

"I have some wonderful news!" Jackie gushed out like a geyser. She reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out a white stick about eight inches in length. "I'm pregnant! We did it!" she exclaimed as she waved the positive pregnancy test in his face.

Reid's eyes must have bugged out of his head because Jackie seemed to chuckle at his response. "This is amazing. I really didn't think it would be so easy. I thought we had months of trying ahead of us. I guess God had a different plan. I have an appointment with my doctor today to make sure it's official. I am so excited!" she continued.

Reid felt a panic starting to take over his emotions. All he could think was that today could be his last day on the planet. "This is it! She…we were successful. This is how I go..." he thought sardonically to himself. He had really thought he would get out of here. He had thought the team would have rescued him by now. He had thought he would've devised a brilliant plan of escape and miraculously free himself. None of that had happened and now he was faced with dying in this absurdly bright yellow room.

"Well, let's get our day moving along. I have to go to the doctor and then the bazaar is this afternoon. I finally get to showcase my sculptures. This is shaping up to be the best year of my life. I get to have a child and my business might just take off."

Reid didn't care less about her wonderful year. He had more important things to focus on at the moment. It was lucky that Jackie didn't gag him last night because he was able to say his first words of the morning.

"Um…Jackie, do you think I could spend the day down in the living room. I kinda want to get out of this room and enjoy some other scenery," Reid implored her.

"What? No congratulations?" Jackie asked incredulously. She sighed and said, "I suppose you can, since this is quite possibly your last day alive. How does it feel knowing you have a timer counting down your last few moments of life?"

Reid remained silent. He had begun to come up with an escape plan. So, he waited with hitched breath for Jackie to begin freeing him from his prison.


	9. The Takedown

**Disclaimer: I don't own the wonder characters that belong in the Criminal Minds world.**

**Thanks for all the reviews and adds! I really appreciate them. Only one more chapter to go.**

* * *

Once Morgan got to the hotel and finally crashed on the bed he was only able to swing four hours of sleep. While he had really wanted to get straight to work on searching for his friend he knew that the police chief probably wouldn't be in until the morning. He decided to get as much shut-eye as possible since he didn't see much sleep in his future this weekend.

Morgan took a shower after he got out of bed at six-thirty. He wanted to be down at the police station by seven in order to get a jump start on the day. He got himself together after the shower and picked up his phone to dial his favorite techie.

"Good morning?" questioned the obviously drowsy Garcia.

"Good morning Starshine," Morgan replied. "I just wanted to make sure you were up and on call if I need any help today."

"Ahhh…of course I'm ready to answer your call whenever you need me, darling," Garcia quipped while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "How could I say no to helping you find my Junior G-man?"

"Thanks wonderful. I know Reid would appreciate it too."

"Just one thing though Derek, can you try to bring him home soon? Oh, and healthy too!" Garcia asked with a hint of tears in her voice.

"I plan on it baby girl," Morgan said. "Love ya."

"Be safe," Garcia responded before she hung up the phone.

Morgan hurried out to his car and was able to make it to the station by seven. He walked in and immediately asked for Police Chief Hansom. He glanced around the police station hoping to find some trace of the investigation to find Reid. Since the BAU had been pulled away on other cases the local police took lead on the search. Morgan wanted to read through the progress that they had made and see if he could spot any new leads.

"Agent Morgan, it's nice to see you again. I want you to know that we have been working on your missing agent's case day and night. Unfortunately, we seemed to have hit a dead end. There really haven't been any developments since ya'll pulled out. Now I know I told you all this over the phone, but if you really think dredging through all this stuff again might help, well then go nuts. My officers are around if you need any assistance or clarification," Chief Hansom said as he lead Morgan to the room that held all of materials concerning Reid.

"It doesn't hurt to keep looking Chief. I know there has got to be something we're all missing."

"Well, what do you plan on doing first?" the chief asked.

"I was thinking about going around to the people we interviewed right after he went missing. I want to see if they can remember anything else that may be of significance," Morgan explained as he rifled through some of the materials laid out on the desk.

"Well, that might prove to be quite difficult today," Chief Hansom said.

"Yeah, why is that?"

"Well the local church decided to throw a bazaar to entice the neighboring communities to come and see what Kennebunk has to offer. Pretty much everyone in the city will be there at some point today, and many of them have their own booths set up to sell local handmade goods," Chief Hansom informed Morgan.

"Okay, well perhaps I'll go down to the bazaar and take a look around. Who knows what I might find…" Morgan trailed off as he left the station after getting directions from the desk clerk.

* * *

After Jackie's announcement Reid's mind went a mile a minute thinking of how he was going to save himself. He concocted an escape plan and jumping Jackie as she let him out of bed for the morning was not part of it. He knew that there was no way that he could take her down in the state that he was in. His best chance was to get her to change his location in the house and look around at what was available.

Somehow he was able to get Jackie to let him spend the day in the living room. She acquiesced to his request and went to prepare the room while he was in the shower.

"Now don't think that because today is possibly your last day that I will relax the rules. You still need to wear the shock collar and you will be tethered to the staircase banister. I have removed anything that you could possibly use as a weapon and unplugged the house phone. I suggest you just sit back on the couch and enjoy the television or a book from the bookshelf," Jackie said as she pointed the gun at Reid as she signaled to him to come out of the bathroom.

She threw the shock collar at him and said, "Put it on. Make sure it locks. If you pull any tricks I'm going to shoot you, baby or no baby."

Reid knew that Jackie had the upper hand right now, but he needed to act compliant and weak in order to make sure she kept her guard down. He complied with her request and cringed a little when he heard the lock fasten securely.

"Alright, now get in front of me and walk downstairs. When you reach the bottom the tether is already connected to the bannister, you just need to fasten it to your leg of choice."

Ever diligent to maintain control Jackie never let her aim leave a vulnerable place on his body while he was fastening his leg to the bannister. Once he had secured the tether around his right ankle, Jackie scooted her way completely down the stairs while keeping her gun trained on him.

"Alright, well you just enjoy your day here. I am locking the door from the outside, so don't bother trying to open it. Also, I left you a bottle of water and a sandwich on the coffee table. Enjoy your last meal," she teased. "I can't wait to get home tonight to let you know the news! Don't worry sweetie, if I am pregnant I'll make sure your death is swift. I couldn't let the father of my child suffer," Jackie said ironically.

Reid scoffed at her last words but kept his mouth shut. He sat on the couch until he heard the car pull away from the house. Once he was sure she was off the property he went to work looking for something to use as a weapon. He also tested the length of the tether to figure out his boundaries. His paper thin plan was beginning to rip apart. There really wasn't anything down here that would help him. The remote control wasn't big enough to knock her out, she removed all the lamps from the room, and there were no decorations that would be blunt enough to cause any pain.

Just when he was about to give up he walked over to the staircase and tested the bannister. It was unyielding, but the subsequent posts were a bit loose. Reid knew that if he could get one of them free from the railings he had a fighting chance to take her by surprise when she got home. A bar over the head wouldn't kill her but it could possibly knock her down, or better yet, out. He set to work on it with fervor, knowing that his life depended one of them coming loose.

* * *

Morgan strolled around the bazaar and observed all of its patrons. He was amazed at how many streets the city shut down to dedicate to the festival. He had already walked two blocks of stalls and booths when he spotted a homemade lemonade stand. He knew he had a job to do, but couldn't resist stopping to get one. I took him back to his childhood when every summer he would visit his grandma and she would make him fresh squeezed lemonade with lots of sugar. Smiling at the memory he inserted himself at the end of the line.

While standing in line Morgan looked around at a few of the booths he had already passed. He noticed a couple arguing a few booths over. They seemed to be squabbling about carrying a large bulky object to their car. He could tell the wife was pissed that her husband purchased something so large. "How do you plan on fitting that eyesore in the car? We own a Cobalt for goodness sakes!" he heard her screech.

"Sweetie, I told you I would figure it out. Trust me! Anyways, it's not an eyesore. It will look great in our front garden. Can't you picture it?" the husband countered back.

"No, I can't. I should have never left you alone to shop. Just look what you got us into."

Morgan chuckled at their little domestic argument and felt bad for the husband having to listen to his complaining wife. It was after that chuckle that Morgan looked closer at the object they were dragging around. He noticed it was a large piece of wood shaped in the form of a person. He stepped out of line to get a better look.

Suddenly he flashed back to a few months ago when Hotch and he had pulled into the driveway of a strange woman. She had two of similar statues outside of her house too. He remembered that the woman seemed a bit off, but Garcia had checked her out and found nothing. She ended up being just another dead end on their seemingly eternal search.

Snapping out of his flashback Morgan stepped closer and closer to the couple. The wooden sculpture looked familiar. He knew he had seen that pose before, if Reid were here he would know exactly what it was. But it wasn't the pose that was captivating Morgan, it was the physical appearance of the man etched in wood. Could it be?

Noticing a large man approaching them, the couple's argument tapered off. "Can we help you?" the husband inquired.

Morgan just held up his hand to shush the couple and got right down next to the sculpture. "No fucking way," he mumbled under his breath as his fingers traced the face. The sharp angles of the jaw line, the large eyes and the goofy ear length curly hair were too close to home to be considered coincidences.

"Sir?"

Ignoring them Morgan took out his phone and snapped a picture of the sculpture and sent it off to Hotch. "Who does this look like?" Morgan texted him.

He straightened up and finally gave the couple some attention. "Where did you buy this statue? What booth was it at?"

"You like it? I'll sell it to you for fifty dollars," the wife piped up.

"No honey! I really had envisioned this as being part of our landscape," the husband argued.

"Enough!" Morgan shouted as he pulled out his I.D. "I need to know where you bought this and I need to know now!"

Startled out of their argument the husband answered, "Next block over at the end of the bazaar. It's a booth by a local woman…Jackie I think her name was." He pointed toward the direction that Morgan needed to follow.

A shudder ran through Morgan at the mention of her name. Wasn't the strange woman they interviewed name Jacqueline? Could it be the same woman?

Morgan raced away from the couple leaving them staring after him. He ran all the way to the next block where he stopped to pick up his phone.

"Morgan."

"It's Hotch. Where did you find that? Is he there? What's going on?" Hotch quickly questioned.

"I don't know what's going on Hotch, but I think that woman that we got a strange feeling from last time is behind all this. The people that bought the sculpture said they bought it from a local woman named Jackie. I am on my way to check out the booth to see if it's Jacqueline. If it is, man, I am heading back out to her house while she is still tied up here," Morgan explained just as quickly.

"No. Morgan if it is the same woman we can't mess up this takedown. Call me once you confirm whether or not it's her. I'm going to have Garcia look deeper into this woman's past and see if anything sticks out. The rest of us will join you if it turns out to be the same woman."

"Hotch, I won't just sit here and wait on you guys. I have to get to Reid as soon as possible," Morgan said exasperated.

"Fine, if it is her, get some backup from the local force and go check out her place. You may not enter unless you have probable cause. Look around but don't touch. If you see any sign of Reid proceed as necessary. Remember, once you confirm your suspicions let me know so the rest of us can get there as soon as possible."

While Hotch was talking, Morgan stalked closer and closer to the end of the bazaar. He could see some large wooden sculptures taking up space in the last booth. He tried to stay hidden from the sight of the booth's owner. If it was Jackie, he didn't want to tip her off that he was back in town. With baited breath and Hotch rambling in his ear he finally caught sight of the woman.

"It's her, Hotch."

* * *

Jackie saw him. She knew that was one of the detectives that came around her house a couple of days after she took her muse. He looked like he was lurking in the shadows trying to remain concealed from her sight. She could tell that his eyes were only on her booth. She could feel them piercing into her back as she turned to help a customer.

A flutter of panic flitted through her body. Were they on to her? All of a sudden, she felt the need to get home as soon as possible. She couldn't chance the FBI finding her muse chained up in her house.

"Gabe, could you watch my stand for a bit. I need to go home and pick up a few more sculptures. I'll be back as soon as possible," she said as she tried to make her escape as quietly as possible.

* * *

Reid successfully finagled the post loose after a couple of hours of work. He felt slightly satisfied with himself. He knew his chances of using this as a meaningful weapon were low, but he had to try. He decided to crouch behind the door and wait for Jackie to open it when she came home. Of course, he was putting his faith in the fact that she would use the front door and not the back.

He knew he needed to do enough damage to knock Jackie down. Reid had to get the key to the tether from her. She always kept the keys in her pockets ready to be used at a moment's notice. He also wanted to get the controller for the collar away from her.

As soon as he heard tires crunching down the driveway he stooped behind the door and held his breath.

* * *

Jackie broke almost every traffic law on her way back to the house. She kept an eye out for any vehicles that might be following her, but didn't see any. She planned on taking Spencer out as soon as she walked in the door.

She tore up the driveway and hopped out of the truck. She ran to the barn and grabbed the adz. She was going to shock him on level seven to knock him out. Then she planned on dragging him out into the woods and disposing of him there. She would have to clean up the guest bedroom before she went back to the bazaar, just in case.

While going over her plan meticulously in her head, Jackie made her way to the front door and inserted the key.

* * *

Spencer waited for the door to creak open and immediately raised his post in preparation. He was in the process of bringing it down when an electrical shock coursed through his body. He tried to not let it deter him but he knew the strength behind his swing was significantly weaker.

He succeeded in hitting Jackie right in the face. She let out a screech of surprise and pain when the post made contact with her nose, no doubt breaking it. Not one to wait, Reid brought the post down again on the back of her head. Jackie collapsed onto the floor in front of the door, seemingly knocked out.

Reid cautiously crouched down by her motionless body. He could tell that she was still breathing, knowing that he wasn't nearly strong enough to kill her with his blows. He searched through her pockets as gently as possible, not wanting to jostle her awake.

Success! He found the key and made his way over to the bannister. Out of nowhere he was tackled down to onto the floor. Jackie smashed her fist into the side of his head trying to succeed where he had failed with her.

Somehow Reid ended up on his back with Jackie straddling his waist. Flashbacks of his assault zoomed through his brain. He began to fight with all his strength to push her off. He kicked out his legs and pushed with his arms. Unfortunately, the months of inactivity really made a difference in this fight. If he was at his normal strength he probably could have taken a woman of Jackie's size.

"Spencer, I didn't think you had it in you," Jackie said breathlessly as she reached behind her to pick up an object off the floor.

"Get off of me!" he shouted as he continued his struggles.

"Come now Spencer, you knew this was going to happen. Can you guess the results of the test based on your current predicament?" she taunted him.

He froze as the implication of her question overtook his brain. "You are pregnant."

She just smiled and raised the adz high above her head.

Reid closed his eyes, wishing Jackie's visage wasn't the last thing he was going to see. Memories of his friends and family flashed through his mind. He really thought he was going to get free. He had fought and lost. Hopefully the team will be able to avenge his death and put Jackie behind bars. Maybe one of them would take care of his future child too.

Out of nowhere a shot rang out through the room. Reid felt the weight on his waist fall off of him. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter thinking that Jackie had just missed her shot.

"Reid? Reid! Open your eyes! It's me, Morgan. Come on Pretty Boy let me know you're alright," he heard his friend pleading.

"Is it possible?" Reid thought.

Reid took a chance and pried his eyes open hoping that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Overtaking his vision was the most wonderful thing he could imagine, his best friend Morgan.

"You found me…" Reid whispered.

"Yeah, I finally found you. Are you hurt?" Morgan asked as he helped Reid sit up off the floor.

"No…well, maybe a little," Reid forced out as he looked over to see what happened to Jackie. She was being loaded onto a board by the EMS team. "Is she dead?"

"What? Ah, no…I think the shot went through her lower back and into her abdomen. She should pull through if the doctors get to her in time. Man, it scared the crap out of me when I came in and saw her holding that hammer thing over her head," Morgan said.

"Her abdomen…." Reid's eyes went wide.

"Yeah, I think," Morgan said clearly confused. "Why does it matter? You're safe. She won't be hurting you again."

"The baby…" was all Reid murmured in response.


	10. Here I Am Alive

**Disclaimer: I do not own or profit off of Criminal Minds**

**A/N: Thanks to all my followers and to anyone who commented on my story. This is the end of the line for the Artist's Muse. I appreciated all your kind words!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Reid didn't want to wake up this morning. He wasn't ready to face another day in that yellow room bending to every whim of that psychotic woman. He decided to keep his eyes closed and tried to move his head toward the window. This way, he wouldn't have to see her face as she emerged through the door carrying his breakfast.

Wait…decided to keep his eyes closed? No, that wasn't right. He couldn't open his eyes even if he wanted to. Reid's eyes felt like they had fifty pound weights attached to them, forcing him to keep them closed. The darkness that surrounded him was different than the one you experience right before waking. It was thicker and all encompassing. He normally didn't like the dark, but this darkness made him feel safe. Where was he?

He knew that he couldn't still be in Jackie's house, he never felt safe there. Reid struggled to use his other senses to get a feel for what was surrounding him. He could feel that his arms were lying down at his sides above some soft blankets that were nestled up to his neck. He could tell that his legs were resting naturally and not restrained to the bed like normal. Reid relished the freedom that his limbs were experiencing. He hadn't been able to sleep in any other position but the one Jackie chose for him in months. Next, he smelled the air around him. It was astringent and had hints of bleach or Lysol. It was a familiar smell, one that he had encountered on multiple occasions. No one forgets the smell of a hospital. Finally, he strained his ears to hear the surrounding sounds. He listened to the sound of a P.A. off in the distant paging a doctor to an emergency surgery. Also, there was a steady beep next to his head, probably some sort of a machine monitoring his health. Then, there was the sound of a bulldozer…no wait…snoring. Snoring? Someone was napping in close proximity to him. Morgan?

Morgan?

When did he get here?

Reid grappled with his memory to try to figure out how he ended up in the hospital with potentially his closest friend by his side. Now he wished he could just open his eyes, but they continued to stay glued shut. The last thing he remembered was Jackie leaving to go to her appointment and then the bazaar. The rest was a blur and that frustrated Reid to no end. He tried to push against the darkness and strained to make his arms move. He had a desire to rub his eyes to stimulate them into opening. Focusing all his strength now he forced a giant push of energy down his limbs. Nothing…no wait...a twitch. He felt his right hand move a bit but nothing more.

All of a sudden he felt something soft and inviting embrace his right hand.

"Hey Reid, it's me, Morgan. Come on pretty boy, wake up for me." Reid heard off in the distance. He was right. It was Morgan who was snoring moments ago.

Heaving a breath Reid still struggled to awaken. It just wasn't working. His body seemed to think it needed more time to recuperate. Reid decided to focus on the gentle touch of his friend rubbing circles into the palm of his hand. He felt a tear of joy leak out of his left eye. He made it out of Jackie's clutches alive.

"Reid, I'm right here with you. You're safe now. Jackie can't hurt you ever again," Morgan said softly as he brushed away the stray tear he saw tracking down his friends face.

And just like that all the memories flooded back into Reid's brain. He remembered getting the post loose from the stairway. He remembered the satisfaction he felt when he hammered it into Jackie's face as she walked through the door. He remembered searching Jackie until he found the key to release himself. He remembered Jackie tackling him and pinning him to the ground. The last thing he remembered was her pulling her hand with the adz back in order to bring it down to crush his skull. He knew he had shut his eyes and heard a gunshot. He thought it had been Jackie's, but that didn't make any sense. She was going to kill him with the adz, not a gun. It must have been Morgan's shot that her heard go off. After that his memories faded into a dull hazy phase. He must have passed out at some point due to the stress.

Feeling satisfaction at finally remembering what had occurred motivated Reid to try and wake up again. He wanted to see his best friend and thank him. He wanted to move his body without any restrictions. He wanted to get his life back.

Reid focused his mind once again on the darkness. He bolstered all his strength and will with one goal in mind. He was going to wake up and face his second chance at life!

* * *

Morgan had momentarily drifted off to sleep. He had been waiting for Reid to wake up for a few hours now and couldn't combat his own exhaustion from taking over. He decided it wouldn't hurt to close his eyes for a few minutes.

Morgan jerked awake when he heard the steady rhythm of Reid's monitor speed up. What was this? Morgan looked over his peacefully slumbering friend and looked for any signs of consciousness. He almost missed it, but he saw Reid's right hand twitch. He quickly grabbed his friends hand and started talking to him.

"Hey Reid, it's me, Morgan. Come on pretty boy, wake up for me."

Nothing.

"Reid, I'm right here with you. You're safe now. Jackie can't hurt you ever again."

Still nothing.

"Oh well," Morgan thought, "I'm not going anywhere until I see those puppy-dog eyes open up."

He sat there rubbing circles into Reid's palm hoping to impart some comfort on his unconscious friend. It had been a busy day. He had rescued his best friend, got him to the hospital, waited for him to get checked out by the doctors, and now here he sat by his side eagerly waiting for him to wake up.

Morgan yawned and glanced down at his watch. The team would be in Maine within the hour, and they already knew to come straight to the hospital. Morgan had tried his best to explain everything to Hotch over the phone, but he knew he left out some details. He didn't mention the fact that Reid seemed way too concerned with Jackie getting shot and the fact that the last words he had spoken before he passed out were, "The baby…"

Morgan wasn't sure what was going through his friends head those last few moments of the rescue and he didn't want to guess why Reid thought Jackie was pregnant.

Suddenly, Morgan felt a grip take over his hand. He looked down and saw that Reid's right hand had curled itself up around his. Morgan blinked and looked up into the biggest brown eyes in the world.

"Hey, kid," Morgan said gently, almost like he was afraid Reid would get scared off.

"H…Hey," Reid stammered out through what was clearly a dry throat.

Morgan quickly got him some a glace of water with a straw. He moved Reid's bed into an inclined position and held the straw to Reid's lips. Reid latched onto the straw with fervor and sucked up over half a cup of water in one breath.

"Whoa, slow down...I don't want you getting sick," Morgan said as he took the cup away. He looked over his friend with a discerning eye and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Reid licked his lips of any leftover moisture that had managed to cling to them. He looked down at his arms and noticed that each wrist was wrapped in bandages. He screwed up his face at the realization that his friend now knew what type of hell he had been living through. If Reid could have had his way, he would have kept the details of his captivity private and only shared the necessary facts with the authorities. Given the shape of his body and the cleverness of his profiler friend, he knew that all his secrets were out.

"What's the damage?" Reid asked, avoiding Morgan's initial question.

Noticing Reid's avoidance to his question, Morgan decided come back to that later. "Well, the doctor wasn't surprised that you passed out on the scene. You were dehydrated and malnourished to the point that they are rehydrating you through IVs. The doctor said that your muscles have extremely reduced in size and mass; as a result you are going to be very weak for some time. You are going to have to go to physical therapy for quite a while to gain your strength back. It looks like you haven't moved much in over two months. You have extensive chaffing around your wrists and ankles. They bandaged you up to keep them from scaring. The nurses have to apply a cream to them every few hours to help the healing process along. Um…the doctor removed the…uh…collar from around your neck and found severe burning underneath. It's quite possible that it will scar, but they are applying burn cream to it constantly to try to reduce your chances. Oh, and you suffered from a mild concussion which they are keeping an eye on to make sure you're not suffering any side effects."

Reid listened to Morgan's explanation in silence. He was well aware of most of his problems and knew that the likelihood of scarring would be great. He knew that he would have to look at a reminder of this ordeal every day in the form of some sort of mark on his body. With this in mind, he started picking at the bandage around his neck, trying to loosen the hold it had. It felt like the bandage was choking off his air and he began to have difficulty breathing.

Noticing Reid starting to pick at his bandages, Morgan grabbed his arms and pushed them down to the bed. He looked Reid in the eye and said, "Leave them alone. Your body needs time to heal."

Reid turned his head away from Morgan and looked out the window. He felt like he was missing something. There was something else he needed to know, but what was it? He hated how muddled his head was because of the medicine. So, he gazed out the hospital window in hopes of jarring his memory, but all he saw was the river winding by on its way to the ocean.

His thoughts were interrupted by Morgan. "You do know that everything is going to be alright? We're all going to be there for you and support you in whatever way you need"

"We?" Reid asked as he looked around for whomever else Morgan was referring too. It was then that Reid realized that Morgan was the only member of the team in the room, and he wasn't sure if he was happy or sad at that reality. Sure, he wanted them all to be there to comfort him and show him that they cared, but on the other hand, he wouldn't have to endure the humiliation of them finding out all the details of his detainment.

"Yeah, everyone will be here soon. They are so excited to see you! I think you had better prepare yourself for a huge onslaught of hugs and get well soon gifts," Morgan explained with a bit too much enthusiasm in his voice.

Reid managed a small smile at the thought of all the stuff animals that would soon be joining him on his bed.

"Um…Reid, I gotta ask you a question," Morgan started.

Reid turned his head toward Morgan not liking where this conversation was going.

"Okay, kid. I know that you're very private, but there are just some questions I have to ask. And I figured you would rather talk to me privately instead of answering difficult questions in front of everyone."

"True...," Reid responded, glad that Morgan knew him so well.

"Well, I am just going to get straight to it. Why did you mention a baby before you passed out? We searched the house and there was no sign of any kids…" Morgan trailed off as he noticed that Reid's pale face seemed to get shades lighter at the mention of the baby.

Reid's mind started tingling when an influx of memories assaulted his brain. Baby! That's it. That's what he had been missing. Jackie had been about to kill him because she must have gotten confirmation that she was carrying his child. God, living just got more complicated. If Jackie was alive and with child, he knew she wouldn't be allowed to keep it in jail. He was going to have to take care of the child; a child that he hadn't wanted any part in making, a child that was forced upon him against his will. Reid knew his mindset wasn't conducive for raising a child and to be honest he really didn't want a kid at this point in his life. He knew though, deep down, that he could never give the kid up for adoption. Well, it was now or never. He needed to find out if his potential future as a father was now a reality.

"Where's Jackie? What happened to her?" Reid immediately asked Morgan, once again ignoring his initial question.

Morgan hesitated, not liking the way his friend seemed so concerned with his abductor. Sure, Reid was a nice person at heart, but he shouldn't be this worried about a woman who practically starved him. Perhaps he was experiencing Stockholm syndrome. "Reid, I shot her in the abdomen. The bullet lodged in her intestines and she bled out on scene. She's dead."

Reid let out a deep sigh. What was this feeling? Was it relief or guilt?

"Morgan…uhm…Jackie…she was…she told me she was pregnant," Reid said nervously glancing at Morgan to see his reaction.

Morgan took a second to process the information, "Pregnant? But…oh Reid, no. Please tell that she didn't..."

Reid looked down at the blanket and picked at the bandage surrounding his left wrist. He couldn't look Morgan in the eye, the shame was too great.

"I'll go tell the doctor and see if he can check to see if she was telling the truth," Morgan said as he got up.

"Uh, yeah…okay."

"I'll be right back."

Reid sat and stared out the window while Morgan was gone. He tried to wrap his head around everything, but his mind seemed to be going a mile a minute. He couldn't keep everything straight and the details were a blur. He was frustrated and embarrassed. Morgan knew now that he was forced to have sex with Jackie. What would he think of him now? Of course, when Reid found out about Morgan's past it didn't change anything, but would the same hold true now that the situations were reversed?

After what felt like forever, his best friend ambled back into the room. Morgan took the chair next to Reid again and took his hand. Reid sucked in his breath, fearing that Morgan was making contact in order to prepare his friend for bad news.

"Reid, look at me." Morgan said as he encouraged his friend to turn his head toward him.

With tears welling up in his eyes, Reid forced his gaze to meet Morgan's. Why was he crying? Either way he didn't have to take care of a kid that he wanted no part in making. Analyzing his feelings, Reid decided that what was getting to him was the fact that he was hoping that she was never pregnant in the first place and that a little life wasn't cut off before its time because of him.

"Kid, she wasn't pregnant. She lied to you," Morgan said quickly, hoping to put his friend out of his misery.

"What? Are you sure? She said that she was only going to kill me if she was pregnant. She implied as much the moments before you arrived," Reid queried.

"Yes, the doctor confirmed it. There was no child. Perhaps she saw me at the bazaar and knew she had run out of time with you. Maybe she panicked and tried to get rid of you before I could rescue you. I was trying to stay out of her sight at the fair but maybe she ended up spotting me in the crowd. But come on man, at least you don't have to worry about raising a kid now," Morgan tried to reason with him.

"Yeah, I know," Reid said as he wiped tears of relief out of his eyes. "Thanks, for checking that out for me. Um, I'm getting tired. Would you mind telling the team to come tomorrow? I'm afraid I won't be up for a visit right now."

"No problem, I'm sure they'll understand. Rest now, you can tell us all about your adventure tomorrow. I'll be here all night if you need something," Morgan said to Reid as he watched his friend drift off to sleep. He knew that the healing process for his little brother was going to take some time and effort. He was going to be there every step of the way to support him and ensure his survival. His best friend was alive and he was going to make sure it stayed that way for a long time.

"Thanks Morgan, for everything," Reid mumbled as he fell into his first peaceful slumber in a long time.


End file.
